Questions re Health care for oversea U.S. citizen

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2008-12-10 10:33 AM

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Pro
4612
20002000500100
MA
Subject: Questions re Health care for oversea U.S. citizen

I do not know this person.  Got this question from a friend.  I figure some of the BTers may be able to help.   I pasted his email below, with my comment/speculation in grey.

Here is the scenario.  An American citizen has been living and working in Hong Kong for some 15 years, since 1993.  Recently he had a stroke.  He wanted to come back to the US to be close to his family.    

  • This guy is in his 60s, born and grew up in the USA, worked in the USA up till around 1993
  • Had stopped paying US tax approximately since 1995 (I believe it meant not paying state tax - any US citizen should be paying Federal Tax no matter where he/she is)
  • Cannot remember his social security number
  • Has no registered home address in the US anymore
  • Throughout the past 15 - 20 years, been back to the US on a number of times, to visit families, to do business, and had stayed for durations usually lasting from weeks to maybe 1 - 2 months maximum
  • has a sister in USA (she has worked in USA all her life and paid taxes)
  • has a daughter in the USA (same scenario as the sister stated above)
Question:  is this guy still eligible for any medicare / medical coverage?!? 
If he is eligible, is there anywhere he can find out how much he is eligible to claim, i.e. on a percentage base? or on a fixed claim base with a ceiling (i.e. each time receive medicine, or medical treatment, or purchase medical equipment, only can get a maximum of say USD $100?)

2008-12-10 10:50 AM
in reply to: #1847367

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Elite
2673
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Muskego, WI
Subject: RE: Questions re Health care for oversea U.S. citizen

www.medicare.gov

He needs to go there and read, learn, call, whatever.  General eligibility is...

"Generally, you are eligible for Medicare if you or your spouse worked for at least 10 years in Medicare-covered employment and you are 65 years or older and a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. If you aren’t yet 65, you might also qualify for coverage if you have a disability or with End-Stage Renal disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant)."

I guess the question would be is...is he 65.  If not is he disabled from the stroke?  Was his employment "medicare-covered" which I didn't bother to search for that definition, but I'll guess it's whether medicare tax was taken out of his check?

This is simplistic and there's a billion factors as to when he's eligible under open enrollment, etc.  He needs to find that stuff out STAT.  www.medicare.gov can get him the info and/or the phone numbers to get answers. 

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