Medi-Cal Expansion And Covered California, Insurance Premium: Fill & Download for Free

Mel Bursan has provided useful summary. In addition to healthcare, I would add loneliness (and it’s adverse health effects)When you sponsor your parents, for the first 5 years they are on green card status, you sponsor are technically responsible for their living and upkeep costs (including healthcare) via the Assurance of Support that you filed. The agencies using income “deeming” rules to deem percentage of your income to be available to them, for the first 5 years. So any federal or state subsidy programs will apply the deeming rules. Assurance of Support (or whatever the form is termed these days) once filed and accepted by USCIS, cannot be withdrawn or renounced.Healthcare for the first 5 years:If you buy them health insurance through the state exchanges (as it is the only one covering preexisting conditions), it is not cheap. Runs around $800 a month for Bronze plan with $7K deductible and rates increase about 12% every year.Health Insurance premium essentially covers procedures (e.g. Surgery), medication, doctors visits and hospital costs / stays during procedures. Also note some procedures (e.g., Hip Replacement ) are considered “elective”. “Elective” is a bad word because it transfers more of the costs on the policy holder.Health insurance does not cover medical equipment (e.g., breathing machines whatever they call them), hospital stay after a procedure discharge date, recovery facilities like nursing homes or assisted living. If you have to put your parents in a nursing home or assisted living, hope you have a ton of money. They run about $5K a month +. Think of the $5K as the base rate. If your parents need custodial / personal care (bedridden , mobility issues, vision/blind or have dementia) that is extra. If you opt to hire someone to take care of your parent in-home, you can find caregivers around $25 an hour through craigslist, or , if you go through an agency they are about $40 an hour.The above estimates depend on your state and location. You are best served calling around and coming up to speed on prices.Healthcare after the first 5 years: MedicareIf your parents did not work 40 social security quarters, they need to purchase medicare at around $600 a month. If they worked 40 quarters, they still need to purchase Medicare though at a reduced rate. Medicare has somewhat similar restrictions / disadvantages as the health insurance you purchased for them for the first 5 years. Medicare has Parts A , B, C, D that have their own sets of costs, deductibles and limitations.Healthcare after the first 5 years: MedicaidAfter first 5 years, your Assurance of Support ends and income deeming rules no longer apply. If you cannot afford medicare, you can see if they are eligible for no cost medicaid (no income, no assets, cannot be claimed as a dependent on your tax return). Medicaid has a multiyear lookback eligibility period that some people do not anticipate.Issue with medicaid is the low compensation rate, hard to find doctors that will schedule a visit in the immediate future and/or prepare for your visit to be rescheduled to prioritize a better insured patient.There are some laws that allow nursing homes to turn away medicaid patients , if X% of their beds already contain medicaid patients.Nursing homes and assisted living facilities that accept Medicaid are a hit and miss. I have seen really good care from surprisingly hole in the wall places and nasty / urine soaked care from places that look great on the outside and a hell hole on the inside.Federal and State subsidy programs after the first 5 years:Your parents may qualify for federal SSI ($600 a month). Check the SSI website.Each State has additional subsidy programs for aged / blind / disabled. Check the state websites.Stuff you can try:Now there are questionable ways to get around some of these income deeming rules and restrictions. The question is are you willing to roll the dice in these days of increased immigration enforcement. I have a friend in California that retired as a supervisor from a prominent city Social Services department. She would tell me about the arrival of these seniors from Pacific Rim countries, and they already have case workers and the California Medi-Cal card (California health insurance for those with no income / no assets) and free / subsidized housing just about as soon as they landed.Through my social work, I am also aware of a few that are not eligible for federal SSI ($600 a month) but applied anyway and they were approved. That SSI helps them meet their monthly expenses. If it is yanked, I do not know how they will survive or if it will affect their citizenship application.In summary, I would suggest:a) Coming up to speed on Health Insurance (what does it really cover), Care Giving for parents, Medicare and Medicaid. Read their applications and benefits docs.b) Consider reading “A bitter sweet season - Caring for our aging parents and ourselves”, by Jane Gross. If you do not have time for the book, do read Chapter 11 “Follow the money”c) If your parents are considerate of you and they are not facing death or extreme circumstances in the home country, it might not be worth it.Update 12/12/18 - In article in WSJ, thanks to Obamacare medicaid expansion and streamlining of applications to get as many people to enroll into system, medicaid applications are no longer verified and rely on applicant “self attestation.”https://www.wsj.com/articles/means-tested-welfare-means-nothing-in-practice-11544573570