US health insurance

[infamouspoo]

Can aparent be added if they come and live with you and would co-pays for an elderly parent on 9 different drugs and with a pace-maker and multiple health problems runs into thousands each month?
Obviously as a new green card holder they wouldnt be eligible for medicare.

As far as I am aware a parent cannot be added to your health insurance. When they define dependents, they are talking about children.

The costs would run into thousands each month. If you are moving to the US and want your elderly parent to come with you I would consider moving them to Canada if you are able to relocate to just south of the border (Michigan, Seattle, Buffalo, Syracuse are places that spring to mind).

thanks. This is what I thought. My sister is planning to do this. Move our elderly mother to the US to join her in Arizona, add her to her health insurance and will not be told about the co-pays. Given my sister has lived there for 3 years I cant understand why she doesnt know this. And given my sister earns under $40K a year, how she will aford this is another mystery
While I'm all for getting shot of my mother, my fear is she will lose her council place, move to the US, it will all go tits up and mother will arrive back on my doorstep. Our mothers health problems are a list an arm long plus the pacemaker!
This is all made more tricky by the fact I dont speak to my sister and am getting this info via my mother

And is the immigration itself not going to be a problem? What sort of visa is she going on? Chances are they won't give your mother more than a tourist visa anyway, unless you're all from the US originally? If your mother has multiple health problems she wouldn't get residency in Canada either.

visa will be as a family member as my sister obtained her citizenship earlier this year.

Your mother should stay put. Don't take this the wrong way but your sister is in no position to care for your mother with her income (unless you missed a zero).

Canada is stretch but as your sister is Arizona the option would be to go Mexico. Not an option I would go for.....

I know. I was kinda hoping she would go but it is madness.

It depends on the insurance provider and the employer providing it. I have worked for companies whose medical insurance will cover an elderly parent if they are a dependent living with the employee (which your Mother would be). I also worked for a company where our insurance would cover same or different sex life partners. My current insurance won't, but it does cover myself, my husband, his daughter who lives with us and his son who doesn't.
If it is employer provided medical insurance more than likely they would provide coverage for pre-existing conditions. If she was trying to purchase individual private medical insurance she wouldn't qualify.
Your sister may be able to sponsor her Green Card, but the wait times are very long right now.
I don't understand what you mean about not being told about the co-pays??? Again co-pay varie according to the insurance provider.
I do understand why you think this may not be a good idea, and I also understand why your sister is concerned about your Mother.

I want her to go but am worried it will go hideously wrong. My sister works in a Verizon call centre. Her husband doesnt work as he is disabled and on medicaid (?) but I have no idea who her insurers are as we dont speak. She wants our mother there as I cant look after her as she gets frailer due to aring for my own seriously ill child.

Your sister is delusional if she thinks this will work, it can all go horribly wrong and could end in bankruptcy.
Send your sis over to britishexpats.com to ask about moving your mother who is not well and on many meds to US she will find others have already looked into it.

Even if your sister has citizenship, that doesn't necessarily mean that your mother will automatically be allowed to stay, particularly if she has health problems.

I think it's highly unlikely your mum will get a visa.

I thought US citizens could sponser parents coming over?
I'm stuck with her arent I? Both scenarios are bloody awful to be honest. My child free siblings have buggered off leaving me to care for an elderly mother with all her health issues, all of which require endless appointments she wants me to go on, endless phone calls on her behalf because she cant hear well or understand accents. I am also up all night caring for a disabled child. I feel like crying to be honest.
And I dont even like my mother. She is toxic and always preffered the others to me and now she is elderly it is like having a walking talking Daily Mail in the room
But thankyou for the input. Knowing in advance is better than it going wrong and having her show up on the doorstep with her vile yappy dogs homeless.

you and your siblings need to get together (doesn't have to be physically) and sort out a care plan for your mother. Sheltered accommodation sounds good, they don't do a character check. If she is mentally able (bloody-mindedness is irrelevant) then she needs to realise that it is time to lose the dogs and get help.

sending her to America is non-starter. You looking after her, ditto.

The sibling thing isnt going to happen and my mother thinks more of those stupid dogs than anything else. She went and adopted another fucking one. A blind one. I'd put the feckers down.
I had to cut my sister off after several vile emails where she complained I wasnt 'taking care of mother' properly. She then emailed my husband and told him to 'sort his wife out' (my sister is mormon and thinks the husband is the head of the household, unless its her of course). I have no idea where my brother is.
Both are child free and havent a clue what my life is like.
What a mess.

My aunt tried to do this with my poorly grandmother and it didn't work. She was only allowed to stay for 90 days each visit. While she was there my aunt had to pay all meda and doctor visits for her. She and my uncle have American citizenship but no luck there.

Medicine, not meda sry

You need money to sponsor a family member, a lot, and/or assets. To get the visa alone is FAR from cheap, oh, and she'll need a medical/health check. $40k/annum isn't going to cut it.

looks like I'm stuck with her.
I know how expensive it is. DH is American and we did it the legal way years back. Cost a bloody fortune and the kids and I were alone in the UK for 6 months waiting to join him as he'd gone ahead to start work. My siblings however, breeze in illegally. My brother marries a friend to get a green card. Takes one month. My sister enters on a tourist visa with the illegal intention to marry her man and applies for 'change of status' wit the old 'we met and fell in love, it was a total surprise' bollocks and gets her green card in 6 weeks.
So now they live the life of riley and berate me from afar for not taking care of mother while coming up with crackpot schemes.

Is it too early for wine?

1. Yes, an adult 'child' over 21 who is a US citizen can sponsor a parent
2. If the same 'adult child' has employer based insurance it's more than likely the policy allows for the dependent parent to be covered

There's some more information on sponsoring here www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/A1en.pdf
In order to sponsor a family member you have to make over a certain amount (125% of poverty level) that is correct. However if your sister does make $40000 I do believe that's enough. There's a chart on USCIS' website www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864p.pdf which you might find helpful.
I have found that the medical care I have received in the US (lived in 4 different states) has been way better than any care I received with the NHS. Arizona has some very good doctors and medical facilities. I have had different insurance carriers through different jobs. If I was to add another family member to my current policy it wouldn't cost me anything more. Generic drugs are about $4 per prescription, and the most I've paid for a prescription is $50 (for something very specific). I can also have PAP tests each year, and mammograms even under the age of 40 if me Dr prescribes it (which they will). I pay $20 per visit if I go to the GP, and $40 per specialist. My stepdaughter recently had an emergency room visit, and 2 MRIs, 2 overnights, emergency care, bloodwork & antibiotics came up to $14K. We only had to pay a $200 co-payment. I'm not an expert, but after living in the US for over 10 years I have had nothing but positive things to say about the level of medical care I received with employer provided insurance. Your sister works for Verizon- they are a very large company and I would imagine that they provide good insurance.
If your sister and her husband can support themselves on $40k there's no reason they couldn't support your Mother too in my opinion. I supported myself on a lot less when I lived there. There would be some medical costs associated with co-payments etc. Food, clothes etc. Your sister will be able to claim her on her taxes as a dependent. She wouldn't need a car or insurance since it sounds like she wouldn't be able to drive.Arizona is a lovely place to live with a pretty low cost of living.
I do not know if your Mother's medical issues would disqualify her from receiving a Green Card. I suggest you do some research on INS' website www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis or call the US Embassy for factual information.
I have only ever paid a few hundred dollars in visa/immigration fees. I did not need an attorney.This is obviously a very stressful time for you, especially since you can't get any information from your sister. Again I highly recommend that you go the official route the get your information. Comments like "It'll end in bankruptcy" simply aren't helpful. There are a lot of routes to US Immigration. If you don't have first hand experience of sponsoring or being sponsored by a family member it's very silly to start speculating.

well that sounds more positive HoneyStepMummy. I was sponsered by DH and it was a nightmare.
I do want my mother to go and what I'm hearing from my mother is my sister says its possible. Maybe from what you say it is. Her health issues, while extensive, are really just old lady issues. Heart, arthritis, pacemaker, start of dementia, that sort of thing, extreme right wing fundamentalism (perfect for Arizona ). My sister owns a house (mortaged) with her husband.
A slight ray of hope there. Thankyou. I just cannot be her Carer and I dont want to be.

Taking care of an elderly and sick parent is awful at the best of times. Taking care of a toxic parent must be a total nightmare. If your sister and Mother are happy with this arrangement then this is good for everyone. It allows you to focus or your child and your family.
My only concern would be if her health issues get in the way of qualifying. That I really can't advise you on.
Even if it does take 6 months for her to get a visa then so what? She'll be going through the process, then when it's time she'll be gone and you can get on with her life. In order to help things along, can you maybe have your DH call her DH? Hopefully your sister has asked her employer about health coverage and started looking into things...

ah, I see now that it is a waste of time trying to get your family together. I hope for your sake that there is a way to get your mother to the states.

if not - I can only suggest that you cut off contact. Filial obligation only goes so far.