How much does healthcare cost for senior parents who don't have work credits in the US?

It is my understanding that to qualify for Medicare, an immigrant must be a lawful permanent resident of the United States. For example, if your immigrant parent has a green card and has lived in the U.S. at least five years, he or she may qualify for Medicare. Undocumented immigrants are not able to get Medicare. Usually the 5-year period of U.S. residency begins on the day the immigrant arrives in the U.S. with a green card and the intent to establish a permanent home. 

Immigrants who are “qualified non-citizens” are generally eligible for coverage through Medicaid , if they meet their state’s income and residency rules.
In order to get Medicaid, many qualified non-citizens (such as many LPRs or green card holders) have a 5-year waiting period. This means they must wait 5 years after receiving "qualified" immigration status before they can get Medicaid

I do believe that she could secure some type of insurance through the Marketplace. But know that those typically can run very expensive. I had to secure health insurance for myself since I was no longer working. At age 60, I could only find 1 company that would cover me and let's just say the monthly premiums were extremely high (by the time I was 64, my monthly premium was $1,500/mo) , and the deductibles were very high as well (if I remember correctly, it was like $7,000 deductible had to be met first. And THEN, it was like pulling rusted nails to get them to cover some of the expenses that were incurred by what my doctors wanted for me. It became nearly a full time job just dealing with them.

But, that all said, my concern would be for YOUR well being. First, you would have to cover all her medical expenses for the first 5 years. Then, you mention that she is mentally declining - what if she moves and all of a sudden starts declining rapidly and the medical costs skyrocket? Neither Medical insurance nor Medicare cover long term care facilities, so that will be a HUGE expense down the road for you. And any 'complex' relationship will only be magnified when she moves here and the only friend she has is you. As she ages, the care she will need will only increase, and she will be expecting you to step up to the 'challenge'.

If someone can come here and get Medicare after five years, there will be no Medicare when our kids hit our age. That's if we're lucky. If we're not, it won't even last long enough for us!

OP, please don't bring your mom here to take from our already stressed and nearly bankrupt senior benefit programs after she's here for only five non-working years. You don't sound very sold on this being good a good idea for the two of you anyway.

We had another member (wearynow) who caved to pressure and brought her mom over from India, if you do a site search you can follow her saga.

Op zany, I’ve thought more about this. My suggestions would be:
1) You make simple enquiries, say you get nowhere (probably true) and tell M you can’t fix it.
2) You suggest that M makes her own inquiries at the USA embassy in the country where she is living. At 72, she should be capable of finding out the problems for herself. If she gets bogged down in the details, it should slow down her ‘begging’ you to fix it all. And the problems are not just about sponsorship for a green card, they also include eligibility for all the care options.

Once again, it may be the worst idea for you to research this and find a way to make it happen.

I want to say that to do this correctly means Mom will need to be vetted. "The vetting process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on what your process looks like, the seniority level for the role, and the industry. For instance, a role at the Federal Bureau of Investigation likely has a much longer vetting process than one at a SaaS company.Feb 23, 2022"

You will need to prove that you can support Mom. The problem seems to arise too on how fast the country of origin does their part.
Are u a citizen. I have a feeling Mom wants this but not so much you. Mom doesn't always gets what she wants.

I would think long and hard about your relationship with your mother before deciding to bring her to the USA to live. Do you want to be her caregiver as she declines?

Since her mental health is already declining would you be able to handle dealing with her on a daily basis?

Does she have money to afford to live here or is her plan to live with you?

Write down pros and cons and be brutal about that con list because once mom comes to the USA you may be stuck with her until she dies. Which depending on the type of person your mom is this could be really bad for you.

Don't do it because you feel bad for mom. Your feelings about this and you matter too and if you know you cant take on this burden then say no.

Goodness, I knew as soon as I saw this question involved the word immigration things were going to do downhill. My daughter's in-laws brought their parents from the Ukraine years ago. My best friend brought her mom from India years ago. I don’t believe the elderly parents worked here ever, but the adult kids are the hardest working people you’d ever want to meet. But you know that. Anyway, good for you for wanting your mom, even if you don’t get along with her, to have a better life. Obviously, it will be an uphill climb for you on several levels. It certainly doesn’t hurt to speak to an agent at an insurance company or possibly an elder attorney to educate yourself and be at peace with the facts.

zanyapplemaple: Perhaps you can discuss this with a health insurance agent.

Dear OP, this is to make up for the anger of other posters, whether justified or not. My first husband and I had the same issue bringing MIL to Australia from London. It wasn’t any intention to rip-off the tax-payer, just the fact that FIL had died and DH1 was an only child. We had to guarantee all sorts of things, but eventually she did get Citizenship and access to the system. She was 80 on arrival, and lived to 99 years and 9 months.

BUT she was a real sweetie! She knew that I treated her better than her son, long after we divorced, she loved my daughters, and DH2 (Tony) loved and took care of her too – including weeks in our house on the farm. We all coped very well together, and I still miss her.

YOUR M age 72 brings a “complex relationship and ..declining mental health”, which is a very different ball game to deal with. Plus it will be potentially very expensive, and very difficult to arrange. To be perfectly honest, in your shoes I wouldn’t be trying too hard to make this move happen!

Discuss this with an immigration attorney who would advise you on this matter. Make sure you ask the immigration attorney about all the pros and cons of bringing your mother to the States.

Healthcare in the U.S. is obscenely expensive. Insurance companies sell health insurance to make a profit (on top of the for-profit set up of the healthcare providers). So unless your mother is wealthy, healthcare will probably not be affordable even if you can get her here. It's not like other countries where healthcare is provided for everyone and supported by taxes. I also think that any insurance company that would write a policy on someone her age would have some pre-existing condition exclusions.

The Marketplace that was mentioned is entirely online, You should be able to find answers to all your questions with some research.

Dear Friend, thanks for your question. There are two parts to your post. The first has to do with immigration and the second has to do with obtaining health insurance for your mother.

In regard to bringing your mother here and trying to get her a green card, it depends on your own status. Are you a US citizen, are you a green card holder, or do you have some other kind of status? I think that in order to be able to bring your mother here from overseas, you might want to consult with an immigration attorney to see what your options are.

Asuming that your mother can come and live with you, as has been explained in other answers, it may be very difficult for your mother to obtain cost effective health insurance. Here too, you may wish to consult with a health insurance agent or broker who is very familiar with various health insurance products that could possibly give your mom some coverage.

aAide from the two thoughts I have above, you mentioned that your relationship with your mother is not so good. I’m not sure if bringing her from overseas to your home is a good first step. Are you able to spend a significant amount of time overseas at your mom’s home to first work things out? I don’t know what your current family and job situation here in the US is, but whatever path you decide to choose in trying to bring your mother here, I think having a solid relationship with her is of upmost importance.

The original question is on healthcare costs such as a doctor initial visit may be 150 to 250 out of pocket plus full costs of meds and labs. Has the OP looked at their own insurance benefits history? The requested charges should be on the history.
I had a Chinese friend whose parents had long term visas. However when either needed treatment for serious issues like cancer, they returned home. They still kept a home to go back to

As Burnt said, Mom would never get Medicare because she never paid into it. You have to have 40 qrts or 10 yrs of work earnings to get it Social Security and u don't get Medicare without SS. Medicaid can't be gotten unless you have a greencard for 5 years. You will have to pay her medical insurances.

If you do not get along with Mom, the last thing I would do is bring her here to live with you. Like Burnt said, she is not entitled to any help here. By you sponsoring her you are responsible for her financially. If she becomes worse and you can't handle it, it cost an average of 10k a month for a NH.

Healthcare costs are State specific. I would contact the Office of Aging to see what insurances can write policies in ur State.

These plans cost 8k to 9k a month. They’re designed for people who make more than a million a year.

My mom brought my grandma, five siblings and in laws over when my grandma was 67. Everyone shared the financial and physical burden of care for her for 25 years. Even after she gained citizenship, it was on the family to pay the rent, utilities, aides. Free health care was a relief as there were doctors in the family to ensure that grandma got the best Medicare and Medicaid could provide from the start. By the time she needed a N.H., a lawyer grandchild advocated to put her in the best Medicaid had. Many or most got there because of strings pulled, fairly, by virtue of them being a doctor or a lawyer or presidential appointee or equivalent.

If you, like I, am just an ordinary person, we don’t have that political leverage. And if it’s just you, you won’t have the financial cushion of 10 other ppl chipping in for grandma.

Here is a link for Medicare.gov for eligibility.

https://www.medicare.gov/eligibilitypremiumcalc

For starters she is not eligible for Medicare at all because she has never paid into it and no one else like a spouse has paid into it for her.

If your mother is a senior citizen, mentally ill, has pre-existing conditions, and no resources of her own there's no way the American government is going to give her a greencard. Not unless you are a very wealthy person and can prove you can support her for the rest of her life. This means pay her insurance premiums, keep her off American social programs like welfare, social security/disability, food stamps, Medicaid, Section 8 rent assistance, etc... because she will not qualify for that.

You do yourself a favor and think long and hard about what you may be getting yourself into. The United States is no longer the free-for-all it used to be. Back in the times where everyone could just roll up in here and go on the dole and everything's paid for by the taxpayer for life. Those days are long gone, my friend. So you think long and hard about bringing your mother here.

I think our OP has a lot of research to do before trying this. It is really so very complex, and nothing a simple forum could answer I think.

Please note that Medicare DOES NOT cover long term care.

Why not go to the market place and get a quote?

FYI, she might get Medicare in 5 years but, it will cost her. I know someone that pays almost 1 grand monthly for Medicare and several hundred more for a supplemental and prescription plan. Can she afford 1,500.00 monthly for health insurance? If not, she should stay where she paid her taxes to ensure she has medical care.