Elderly parent - health insurance

[Boiler 43,546]

It has been collapsing well before Trump, my County now has no Doctor, no Nurse, only one Insurer who will write Obamacare and the premiums have gone through the roof.

 

 

[yuna628 9,530]

To the OP's benefit, it's likely best not to delve into aspects of Medicare right now, as it can be confusing.. and for at least five years the mom cannot use it. Medicare works well for my parents and has literally paid for everything - including mom's cancer treatment. The supplement covers the rest of the tab, so besides the premium for that (they use AARP), they don't have to pay anything else. There are of course plenty of drugs Medicare simply won't cover... but that's another mess.

 

And Boiler raises a good point, since the OP is looking at bringing her far down the road - we simply don't know what will happen to the ACA (O'care) - but despite that, coverage could still be obtained via private insurer. We don't have a good estimate what the premium would be due to how further unstable not having the exchange would be of course. One thing is certain coverage for pre-existing conditions is popular among nearly all groups. I do not think that removal of this in law would be popular. We can argue how really functional that would make the insurance market... but we simply don't know. We can only tell you what options you'd have now.

 

Insurance is expensive for the young as it is.. and I can't imagine how horrible it would be for the old.

Edited December 15, 2017 by yuna628

[geowrian 22,335]

It's been fine and not collapsing in my state. Most of my friends on the silver plan pay close to half what I do on my work's insurance (which cover 50% of the premium!).

[Boiler 43,546]

7 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

To the OP's benefit, it's likely best not to delve into aspects of Medicare right now, as it can be confusing.. and for at least five years the mom cannot use it. Medicare works well for my parents and has literally paid for everything - including mom's cancer treatment. The supplement covers the rest of the tab, so besides the premium for that (they use AARP), they don't have to pay anything else. There are of course plenty of drugs Medicare simply won't cover... but that's another mess.

 

And Boiler raises a good point, since the OP is looking at bringing her far down the road - we simply don't know what will happen to the ACA (O'care) - but despite that, coverage could still be obtained via private insurer. We don't have a good estimate what the premium would be due to how further unstable not having the exchange would be of course. One thing is certain coverage for pre-existing conditions is popular among nearly all groups. I do not think that removal of this in law would be popular. We can argue how really functional that would make the insurance market... but we simply don't know. We can only tell you what options you'd have now.

It is really a money issue, we do not know the OP's mothers position, I assume she has access to care in her own country and moving here would be totally different.

 

I do think Medicare and the cost is important, assuming she has a usual life expectancy.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

15 minutes ago, Boiler said:

It has been collapsing well before Trump, my County now has no Doctor, no Nurse, only one Insurer who will write Obamacare and the premiums have gone through the roof.

 

 

Our county only has one doctor and they are ever rotating.  He's a necessity to supervise the PAs and NPs.  Such is life in a rural place.  We go an hour away to see our doctors.

 

10 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

To the OP's benefit, it's likely best not to delve into aspects of Medicare right now, as it can be confusing.. and for at least five years the mom cannot use it. Medicare works well for my parents and has literally paid for everything - including mom's cancer treatment. The supplement covers the rest of the tab, so besides the premium for that (they use AARP), they don't have to pay anything else. There are of course plenty of drugs Medicare simply won't cover... but that's another mess.

 

It goes both ways.  My dad's care was paid for well by medicare - the treatment was superb, but he paid a lot per month for the supplement.  Yes, he did have to pay beyond that.  My uncle has had to wait months and months for a simple further imaging scan of his lungs after detecting a mass to check for cancer - because you guessed it, medicare.  My mother is scared to death of going on medicare, no joke, and I get it.  She'll be paying a ton of money out of pocket for her cancer drugs.  She's on some sort of 5 year treatment to prevent reoccurrence that is ludicrously expensive.  Her current insurance covered it after the deductible for all the health expenses for the year (which were a lot anyway).

[CEE53147 559]

3 hours ago, Martika said:

I was expecting ~ $900 per month. Crazy! 

Likely low but depends on state. 40 yo son's is nearly $800/month with 40% copay

[TNJ17 1,329]

Check with your current insurance that you can’t add a dependent. Our insurance will cover an immediate relative as long as they are fully dependent on you and living with you. I’m sure that’s gonna be the case for your mother. 

[NYCruiser 423]

18 hours ago, Boiler said:

Short version she would need to buy from the Exchange for 5 years after becoming a LPR and then can buy into Medicare.

 

If she has the funds doable.

 

Assuming nothing changes.

Actually she might not be eligible for Medicare since she has not worked here. You need 40 quarters o working to be eligible. After 5 years she would be eligible for Medicaid.

 

In the meantime, yes, use Obamacare. There will be BIG deductibles. I just talked with a 28 year old who let her insurance lapse between jobs. Gold plan is $325 with a $900 deductible. At 65, expect to pay a lot more.....:-(

[Umka36 781]

9 minutes ago, NYCruiser said:

Actually she might not be eligible for Medicare since she has not worked here. You need 40 quarters o working to be eligible. After 5 years she would be eligible for Medicaid.

 

In the meantime, yes, use Obamacare. There will be BIG deductibles. I just talked with a 28 year old who let her insurance lapse between jobs. Gold plan is $325 with a $900 deductible. At 65, expect to pay a lot more.....:-(

You can buy Medicare part A&B if you've never paid into it the system after being 5 year resident. 2017 rate is $547 for both part A&B. You can also but a supplement plan to cover what Medicare won't. It's probably going to be at least $800/month for a good plan with the supplemental.

 

https://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/part-a-costs/part-a-costs.html

 

If a parent is getting good medical coverage now at their home country, probably not the best ideal to have them settle in the US if you are not willing to fork over the money to get them the same kind of medical coverage. It's unrealistic to think Obama-care can continue as the young or healthy folks need to pay into the system for it to work, because why would they if they have to pay an outrageous premium along with high deductibles to use it.

 

 

[Marzena & Stephen 544]

On 12/14/2017 at 2:21 PM, Marzena & Stephen said:

From my understanding you can always purchase health insurance however many health Insurance companies will not cover "preexisting" medical issues. So if she has any type of illness and they can track back a future illness to that original illness, there may be some issues. If she is healthy now than great. It shouldn't be a problem just a tad expensive.

 

On the other hand some insurance carriers make you pay upfront for all expenses until you reach a certain amount for example once you've paid 3000 dollars than the insurance kicks in. And others have high deductibles.    

I'm new to the USA but this is what I've been told so far (if you do not have coverage through work)

Ignore the preexisting    I researched it more after what a friend had told me and this rule has changed since. I know she had problems with her mother's preexisting health but it may have been some other reason sorry I couldnt delete the post