Obamacare for new immigrants. Household income?

[GreyHead]

Navigating healthcare.gov

Even if I put our joint (self and spouse) income as her household income, the subsequent pages on the site are confusing.
For instance, there is no way to show that the ENTIRE household is living off of that income not just her. Because, these are the questions that actually show up on the site:

1. Q: Your household includes you, your spouse if you’re married, and everyone you’ll claim as a dependent on your tax return.
Include them even if they’re not applying for coverage.

-- Here I would have to click "Just You" because SHE cannot claim anyone as her dependent, I claim HER as my dependent.

And subsequently the system think she is the only one living with that income. How does one reconcile this?

[GreyHead]

It does not matter where they live.

They are considered your dependents until
* they become US citizen
or
* they are credited with 40 credits for work

whichever comes first.

Therefore, you must consider your own income in order to figure out whether they can ACA subsidy or not.

What happens when they become US Citizens? What are the implications on their choices of medical insurance?

[GreyHead]

What happens after Citizenship?

There was a reply that said "40 quarters" or they become citizens, whichever comes first.
What happens when they become citizen?
What would they be eligible for?

[Drew1]

Household income - definition (for ACA)

Your income is effectively considered their income. Therefore, you have to specify that.

People who have no income can NOT get any subsidy. People who higher than threshold also do not get any subsidy. It is the people in the middle who get varying amount of subsidy.

ACA rules are clear as to when to and when not to include the sponsor's household income, for ACA subsidy calculations.
In the case of a US citizen household sponsoring a parent / parents for permanent residency , ACA (Obamacare) includes the sponsor's household income ONLY if the parent(s) CAN BE CLAIMED as dependent(s) by the sponsor. Refer page 5 FAQ document from National Immigration Law Center.

There are 5 tests (all of them have to be met) that IRS prescribes for eligibility for claiming someone as a dependent:
(1) The person you are claiming as a dependent must be related to you (i.e. only parents, and not foster parents)
(2) Your parent must be a citizen or resident of the United States or a resident of Canada or Mexico.
(3) Your parent must not file a joint return. If your parent is married, he or she must file separately. There is an exception if your parent is filing jointly, but has no tax liability.
(4) Your parent must not have a gross income of $4,000 (in 2015) a year or more. [Note - this is worldwide gross income , not just from US sources]
(5) You must provide more than half of the support for your parent during the year

If any of these are not met , you CANNOT claim your parent(s) as dependent(s) in your federal tax. This means the parent(s) have to file their own tax returns. In this instance since they CANNOT BE CLAIMED AS DEPENDENTS (for example, worldwide gross income is more than $4,000) , the income for ACA subsidy calculations would be the parent's own income (and does not count the sponsor's household income) . If however, per the above test the parent(s) CAN be claimed as dependents, then the sponsor's household income has to be included for ACA purposes (regardless of if the parent(s) choose to file taxes as the sponsor's dependent or separately).

ACA rules are different than the rules in welfare reform bill (1996) which stipulated that the sponsor's household income must be included as the sponsored relative's income for means testing of federal welfare programs - these are two distinct laws dealing with slightly different items and should not be confused with each other.

[immihelp]

40 quarters of work. That is 10 years. That is when people in the US become eligible for social security or Medicare benefits. That is the same for US citizens too.

[longmarch]

40 hours or 40 quarters

It does not matter where they live.

They are considered your dependents until
* they become US citizen
or
* they are credited with 40 hours of work

whichever comes first.

Therefore, you must consider your own income in order to figure out whether they can ACA subsidy or not.

I'm looking for information about when a new immigrant can be considered as independent (from his/her sponsor) for applying health care benefits such as Obamacare.

Could you elaborate a bit more on this "40 hours of work". For example, is there a requirement for how many weeks s/he has to work on 40 hours weeks to be considered independent?

I read somewhere else in this forum (https://https://www.immihelp.comhttp...it-of-support/) where it states that the requirement is "40 quarters, or 10 years". This sounds to me awfully too long, but simply "40 hours of work" may be too simple/short.

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon!

[immihelp]

We have already tried to help you to the best we can, for free.

Once again:
When you apply for your parents insurance through ACA, you will have to enter their income. As you filed I-864 form, your income is considered their income. Therefore, that is the income you enter.

At this time, we leave it up to you what you would like to do.

[kostek]

im trying to get to the right answer and will do whatever law requires. form i-854 states support up to 125% of poverty line, not up to total income.

talked to 2 immigration lawyers and both of them have no idea re: what income to use, except that my parents would be eligible to apply.

You are interpreting ACA language as you find suitable to you but that is not accurate.

When you sign Form I-864, your ENTIRE income is deemed to be their income.

You should consult an immigration attorney to get the confirmation of what we just said.

[immihelp]

You are interpreting ACA language as you find suitable to you but that is not accurate.

When you sign Form I-864, your ENTIRE income is deemed to be their income.

You should consult an immigration attorney to get the confirmation of what we just said.

[kostek]

thanks - what is your source? not sure you're right. Straight from ACA per letter of the law. to me it seems 100% of poverty. looks like i'll just have to go through ACA in more detail as hard to base this decision on message board. but thanks for the help!

"
‘(1) APPLICABLE TAXPAYER.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘applicable taxpayer’ means, with respect to any taxable year, a taxpayer whose household income for the taxable year exceeds 100 percent but does not exceed 400 percent of an amount equal to the poverty line for a family of the size involved. ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS LAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES.—If—

‘‘(i) a taxpayer has a household income which is not greater than 100 percent of an amount equal to the poverty line for a family of the size involved, and ‘‘(ii) the taxpayer is an alien lawfully present in the United States, but is not eligible for the medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act by reason of such alien status, the taxpayer shall, for purposes of the credit under this section, be treated as an applicable taxpayer with a household income which is equal to 100 percent of the poverty line for a family of the size involved.
"

Total income.

[immihelp]

Total income.

[kostek]

got it, but is my total income to be used or just the affidavit of support income, i.e., up to 125% of poverty line, which for my household size would be around 40k

It does not matter where they live.

They are considered your dependents until
* they become US citizen
or
* they are credited with 40 hours of work

whichever comes first.

Therefore, you must consider your own income in order to figure out whether they can ACA subsidy or not.

[immihelp]

It does not matter where they live.

They are considered your dependents until
* they become US citizen
or
* they are credited with 40 credits for work

whichever comes first.

Therefore, you must consider your own income in order to figure out whether they can ACA subsidy or not.

[kostek]

i have the same question. looking into parents (67/68) to come to the US with a green card. they will live separately and have somewhere around 20-30k in income from their home country pension. is it their income that i'd use for the ACA so they can get subsidy?

[Janos Zsoter]

Newcommer Gren Card Holder

Hello! I have just got my Green Card with my Family. We plan to move to Florida in early summer. I am a retired military personal from NATO countries, and I am looking for a health insurance for us.
What type of insurance can I buy for the beginning (my son is 13, and my wife and me around 45). Do we eligible for any program?