<p>Here’s the scenario: Graduate student/Med School /Law School student in late 20’s who is going to school purely on loans. No job and no income. Are they eligible for inexpensive health insurance under the Affordable Healthcare Act because they have no income?</p>
<p>Short answer: yes. The subsidies are based on income. If the student is not the dependent of their parents, they are eligible for subsidies according to their income.</p>
<p>Edited to add: But if this student has no income, then they would be eligible for Medicaid (in expansion states) rather than subsidies. Subsidies are not available to people who earn less than 100% of the federal poverty level ($11,670 in 2014). A healthy childless student in a non-expansion state would probably not be eligible for Medicaid.</p>
<p>If they have no income and no assets, wouldn’t they be eligible for Medicaid? </p>
<p>With no income they will be eligible for the state’s Medicaid program, the subsidies & private insurance come in at 138% of the poverty level.
The school’s insurance may be more appealing that Medicaid</p>
<p>Right, TatinG. I was just editing my message when you posted. With no income, they’d be eligible for Medicaid in an expansion state, and nothing in a non-expansion state.</p>
<p>Under 26. Parents plan should cover them</p>
<p>ACA:</p>
<p>In some states where they did not expand Medicaid the student may not qualify unless they have some income,</p>
<p>For instance, in Pa. You need an income of about $11600 to be a able to get Affordable Care. Less than that and you are not eligible for any insurance…at least for 2014.</p>
<p><a href=“State Category | Health Coverage & Uninsured | KFF”>State Category | Health Coverage & Uninsured | KFF;
<p>Crosspost cf </p>
<p>Non-expansion states still have Medicaid, they just did not increase the income limit. Zero income may still qualify if there are no special rules in that state for students. DD is doing this now since she turns 26 soon. She qualifies under normal Medicaid since she does have some part time income but not much. They should go on the healthcare site and do a search. </p>
<p>In many non-expansion states, childless healthy adults are not eligible for Medicaid no matter how low their income is.</p>
<p>For example, here are the eligibility requirements for Mississippi:</p>
<p>In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a resident of the state of Mississippi, a U.S. national, citizen, permanent resident, or legal alien, in need of health care/insurance assistance, whose financial situation would be characterized as low income or very low income. You must also be either pregnant, a parent or relative caretaker of a dependent child(ren) under age 19, blind, have a disability or a family member in your household with a disability, or be 65 years of age or older.</p>
<p>Background: Nephew, living in PA (non-expansion state, I think) will soon be 26 and will be bounced from his parent’s insurance. His school requires proof of insurance with some fairly high parameters–not just a bare bones catastrophic coverage only policy. He has no income. His parents provide only a small fraction of his support. He will have huge debt when he finishes school. I joked with him that at least, as a poverty-stricken student, he could pick up a cheap, but good policy on the exchange. But that’s apparently not true! </p>
<p>I linked Pa up top. </p>
<p>He can probably do cobra after his birthday for rest of this year. Next year we will have new program depending on new governor.</p>
<p>It depends upon a lot of things. In those schools without expanded Medicaid, such a student may have to get the school policy. More money to borrow. If there are Cobra options coming off parents’ policy, that can be an option, also living long enough in parents’s state to pick up a policy there on the exchange and then moving to the school. I don’t know how the portability of these things work</p>
<p>Pennsylvania is expanding Medicaid for 2015. They just reached a deal with HHS a couple of weeks ago.</p>
<p>Look at medical coverage through the law/medical/grad school. It won’t be top notch but it will be available for a cost. Or contact a broker and buy an individual policy for your kiddo. That is what we did. 26 year old pays. $320 for medical/dental/RX coverage with a $3500 deductible, and $35 office visit copay. I’m sure there are less expensive plans available with a higher deductible. </p>
<p>If we had omitted dental, the plan would have been just under $300 a month.</p>
<p>Re: “The school’s insurance may be more appealing that Medicaid.”
DS still goes with the school’s insurance. Not sure whether CT is a Medicaid expansion state. I believe he is still a CA state resident though (according to his driver license.)</p>
<p>when a student is older than 26 and is an OOS student and is rarely in his home state, I really do not know how this will work. I thought the insurance usually covers in-state hospital/clinic visits only unless it is an emergency.</p>
<p>Dental insurance is another issue. I do not think ACA covers it.</p>
<p>I suppose medicaid for free would be more appealing than insurance that you have to pay for if the goal is to have zero cost insurance. Personally, I would not want medicaid (medicare yes, yes, yes, but not medicaid). It is often hard to find providers who accept medicaid. I didn’t realize that if you have too low an income, you would not be eligible for ACA policies. </p>
<p>For someone planning to go to grad or professional school and borrow perhaps 60K per year for tuition plus living expenses, I would say that the insurance from the school is just a drop in the bucket. My kid’s school insurance is still less than $200 per month and it is better insurance than she would have gotten from my policy which would have been $400 per month! Back in the day, I worked during law/business school to have money for expenses. Perhaps a med student wouldn’t have time, but lots of law students wanted to get experience, and that meant part time work!</p>
<p>You can always buy an ACA policy; anyone is eligible. The issue is who is eligible for subsidies.</p>
<p>I thought, in California at least, that if you went onto Covered California and your income was below the threshold for Medi-Cal (Medicaid), that you were automatically signed up for Medi-Cal. Some people who wanted to buy plans on Covered California were very upset by this. </p>
<p>If the student is OOS, better to sign up for the universities insurance plan. I know of one woman who stayed on a Kaiser Plan through her parents employer rather than getting the universities plan only to find out that there are no Kaiser facilities within 100 miles. </p>
<p>What year’s tax returns are used for determining if the kid has been claimed as a dependent. If you claimed the kid as a dependent in 2013, but don’t plan to in 2014, can the kid get Medicaid or a subsidized plan when enrollment opens up this fall? </p>
<p>I just went to healthcare.gov and randomly plugged in the age of 28, state of Pennsylvania and Erie county. It looks like he can get ACA coverage for about $100 per month. Would his parents being willing to help with the cost?</p>
<p>In Pa. He is in the coverage gap. Uncover able under ACA until 2015.</p>
<p>Look at the chart and read the article.</p>
<p><a href=“State Category | Health Coverage & Uninsured | KFF”>State Category | Health Coverage & Uninsured | KFF;
<p>My daughter went to grad school in PA. Her grad school package included student medical insurance at a nominal cost plus access to the university health center and all university facilities. When she became a TA, the tuition remission included the insurance. When she became an adjunct and stayed in PA, she still had access to university health center but self-insured at a very nominal cost through Healthy PA. Then she moved back to NY and under ACA became eligible once again to be covered under our plan until 31 days past her 26th birthday.</p>