How to get health insurance for senior age parents who have greencard status?

Question

My mother-in-law is in her 70s and in fairly good health, but the problem is her insurance. She never worked in this country, and will not be eligible for medicare/medical/medicaid for 5 years (due to green card/residency issues). She currently is a member of Kaiser, but due to her age is considered a ''high risk'' patient, and her monthly premium has now gone up to $700 per month. This gives her basic Kaiser care, with co-pays for visits and prescriptions. After consulting a healthcare advocacy group who does comparisons of plans for people, their suggestion was to drop her healthcare completely and save the money. I feel this would be disastrous if something really bad were to happen to her (accident, etc.) and would like to try to present her with other options. Does anyone know of a group that is accepting members for health insurance that has good rates? (any group of people large enough can get a group plan through major insurers) Any advice welcome!

Answer 1

I don't have an answer directly, but I have noticed that AARP is forever sending me information that includes insurance. Since it is a membership organization, they can get group plans that make things pretty reasonable. It's at least a start in your research.

There may also be long-term plans that need to be looked into specifically, but if your real problem is covering the next five years, you need to have some idea of what she can expect to do when she is eligible for Medicare, and look for an insurance company that knows how to interact seamlessly (do the paperwork for you) to collect your benefits most efficiently. The modern thing is you have one card, and they can change things around in the computer according to what you need. You don't need to keep shopping around.

If she's generally healthy now, and has the good sense to take care of herself reasonably, she really has to figure on getting three digits together in some reasonable comfort. By the time she gets there, it will have become relatively common. Our old age statistics are going to show even more amazing improvements in the next ten years or so, as the medical improvements made for the benefit of aging Baby Boomers has its first and most dramatic effect on people who are already older, but healthy.

Answer 2

I think she should drop the insurance.. If an accident or major illness happens, most hospitals have programs to write off the bill and she can pay the MD's a few dollars a month.. She could put that money in the bank and at least it would earn interest.. As far as rx's..if they are generic, she can get them a lot of places for $4.00..if she's only taking a few meds then it's still cheaper for her to pay for them than to pay the insurance rate (and co pay).. If she has no insurance, she can probably get her drugs sent to her thru the companies free.. called indignent progran..she should ask her MD. AARP is a option but they are expensive too..