Can my grandparents insurance policy keep them from moving?

Question

My grandparents claim that their insurance company said that they cannot move from the town they live in because their insurance will not cover them in another town. Also, even if the town is nearby and they could drive to appointments they still would not be covered. Is this possible, because they live in a really bad neighborhood and they really need to move. Please help.


By the way I think their insurance is Medicare of Medicaid.

Answer 1

Medicaid is state specific so if they've got Medicaid they lose it if they move to a different state. They'd have to apply with the new state and depending upon income levels and guidelines of the new state they may or may not qualify.

Medicare is from the federal government so is good all over the nation. It actually sounds like they have Medicare with a Medicare Advantage plan. These plans are county specific so they may not be covered if they move to a different county. However, they will qualify to get on a different plan in the new county. These plans are guaranteed issue so they won't have any problem switching. You are right about not being able to keep the current plan and driving to appointments.

Answer 2

It sounds like your grandparents are enrolled in either a Medicare Select or Advantage product or a Medicare PPO/POS product. If this is the case, it's not at all unusual for the carrier to only cover seniors living within certain zip codes. This is not considered to be discriminatory, since this is approved by Medicare. Unfortunately, this is the case for thousands of seniors in my state; the Kaiser Medicare HMO is available in half the state and totally unavailable in the other half. So it's not true that plans MUST give seniors an alternative.

Go to the Medicare.gov web site and use the plan search tool. It will tell you the options available to your grandparents in the zip code they want to move into. If their current plan isn't listed, that's your confirmation that the plan doesn't cover residents there.

Answer 3

What kind of policy are we talking about here? Health?

Very likely, they'd need to switch providers at least. Also, Medicare or Medicaid isn't going to cover you outside the STATE, for sure. But also, there are subsidiary programs, which DO have "territory guidelines". So it's also likely they'd have to switch from "territory a" program, to "territory b" program.

You should call the number on the back of their insurance card to find out for sure.

Answer 4

Medicare would cover them wherever in the US they were. For medicaid, they might have to apply again in the new area if they moved.

Answer 5

Insurance companies are not allowed to discriminate based on where you live, your age, sexual orientation and things like that. I would be calling your states department of insurance.

Answer 6

Only if they live in New Orleans.