My mother-in-law was born outside the U.S. but recently became a U.S. citizen after living here legally for several years. She has not worked in the U.S. and so is not eligible for Medicare. Her husband worked for less than 2 years only in the U.S. She is now 68. Can you please educate us about the options available to her? Is she eligible for Medicare, if so how do we obtain it?

Q & A

My mother-in-law was born outside the U.S. but recently became a U.S. citizen after living here legally for several years. She has not worked in the U.S. and so is not eligible for Medicare. Her husband worked for less than 2 years only in the U.S. She is now 68. Can you please educate us about the options available to her? Is she eligible for Medicare, if so how do we obtain it?

Posted on September 5, 2015

Answer: If they have lived in the U.S. continuously for the past five years, every U.S. citizen or legal resident is eligible for Medicare when they turn 65 or become disabled. The relevance of working at jobs where Social Security payroll taxes are paid is, as was explained to Greg in the above answer, whether Part A insurance is free or not. In your mother-in-law’s case, neither she nor her husband qualify, so Part A will not be free, and would cost her $407 a month in 2015. This is a big hit for many seniors, and if your mother-in-law does not earn much money, there are several Medicare Savings Programsthat might help her with payments for various Medicare expenses. Read more…

Source: Philip Moeller, via www.pbs.org, 8/12/2015)

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