Open enrollment extended until 2/22/15

[sobenji]

Coverage will still begin 3/1 per CMS

[djean111]

1. Thanks for the info.

My 19 year old grandson is on the fence about this. He works part time at a large grocery store, and part-timers pretty much are never going to accumulate the 1500 hours a year they need in order to qualify for health insurance. He is still qualified for Medicaid, but only to address ongoing ADHD problems. Medicaid will pay for the medicine, but only pays for a doctor if he sees a psychiatrist, and there are none reasonably nearby who take Medicaid. His family doctor will prescribe his meds, but we have to pay the doctor cash, about $65 every three months. For bigger stuff, Medicaid pays everything if his expenses in a month total over $514, which means any emergency room visit. So - he has insurance, which means he won't get a penalty, but is it worth it to start paying premiums and co-pays. Any thoughts? (I am on Medicare and living on Social Security, he lives with me and helps with food and gas while saving for community college.)

[sobenji]

2. I don't know how a private plan and Medicaid would work together

[djean111]

3. I believe he is always free to drop out of Medicaid. What Medicaid he has now is

very minimal - only pays for stuff that he had problems with as a child - eye muscle operations, partially deaf (but won't pay for hearing aids or glasses), and any symptom that can be traced to ADHD.
His "medically needy" insurance pays for nothing unless he goes over $514 in a month - and in that case they pay the entire amount and he pays nothing. No hardware included, so he cannot get new hearing aids.

[sobenji]

4. Have him check premiums on healthcare.gov

Might be free or really cheap

[jwirr]

5. I suggest that you contact one of the ACA navigators because if he is getting Medicaid now then

he may be able to get extended Medicaid through ACA. He should try look to see if he qualifies using only his own income. Because he lives with you does not mean that he has to include you. There can be more than on "household" in a home. I live with my grandson and an considered a household.

If the navigator helps you that does not mean that he has to join - it just means that you will know the facts related to your own case.

[djean111]

6. This is Florida. We do not have extended Medicaid. Rick Scott only okayed it in principle

so it would look good while campaigning, but he did not submit it in time for his pet legislature to address it before they went on vacation, and I doubt it will ever come up again while he is governor. We submitted all of our info to Florida Medicaid last June, and he came out of it with the very limited insurance that he has. But I will call an ACA navigator and see what we can do. Thank you very much for this info!!!!!!!