Living in Mexico and Obama Care, need to register?

navegator wrote:
Thanks for the responses, my wife owns a house in Mexico City and we plan to live on a permanent basis, my wife has both US and Mexican citizenship, I am a US Citizen and need to return to the border every 180 days, in the near future I hope I can change my status to a permanent resident, I was born in Mexico so maybe that helps a little, will always pay taxes in the US, both Federal and State.

navegator

Your situation is similar to my DW - born in Mexico - moved to US at 3 months by parents.
She used her birth certificate to obtain the all important Mexican voter registration card. From there she got her Mexican passport (citizenship). You are in good position to do the same.

From Healthcare dot Gov wrote:
If you have a gap in coverage of less than 3 months, or you are not lawfully present in the U.S.:

You don’t need to apply for an exemption. This will be handled when you file your taxes.

https://www.healthcare.gov/exemptions/

But's doesn't say how

I am 60 and pay my own insurance so ACA was a godsend,
But doesn't Medicare kick in if you are over 65?
BTW, everyone I talk to that hates the ACA has coverage from work and they don't pay anything or very little.

Maybe they will do as the Canadian program does that if you are out of Canada for more that six months plus you loose the benefits? We have neighbors that are having one hell of a time with the system, she does not work and can not obtain any Obama Care coverage at all, since she does not work, we are all over 65 and retired.

then of course if I stop filling taxes the IRS will be on my case for not filling taxes, etc.

Again thanks for the intel, we apreciate it, it is a catch 22.

navegator

From what I have discovered, as long as you file taxes in the U.S. and visit the U.S.more than 35 days a year, you are not exempt from ACA.

Thanks for the responses, my wife owns a house in Mexico City and we plan to live on a permanent basis, my wife has both US and Mexican citizenship, I am a US Citizen and need to return to the border every 180 days, in the near future I hope I can change my status to a permanent resident, I was born in Mexico so maybe that helps a little, will always pay taxes in the US, both Federal and State.

To Francesca Knowles:

What I want to know is if a person that is a US Citizen and lives in Mexico and has a medical insurance in Mexico needs to register with Obama Care when it will probablly never be used, and MEDICARE only applies to the United States of America, some medical insurances do not cover any other country other than the one that they are located in, there are exeptions and are normally very expensive. Thank you for the information.

navegator

The one thing I could not find an answer to was how they determine if I am in the U.S. for more than 35 days a year and does that include vacationing time.

Here is a site with some great information: Yucalandia - I haven't analyzed yet the form 2555 that one fills out to get the exemption but that looks like method being used.

Same here and lots of confusion. I have checked the ACA website and have found some very reasonable coverage. That said, my plan is to drop my current private Mexican coverage and obtain Seguro Social as my option here and then pickup the ACA coverage for the U.S. My current private policy covers me here and the U.S.

The one thing I could not find an answer to was how they determine if I am in the U.S. for more than 35 days a year and does that include vacationing time.

We just went through all of these questions as well and I can only tell you what we learned. To some extent, these answers will depend on what state in the US you are a resident. Here goes:

You do not need to register for Obamacare (ACA) if you are outside the US for 330 days a year or more. ACA will not cover you in Mexico and this is due to the AMA. Just met with our US consulate and, while he is hopeful that this could change in the future, it hinges on the strength of the AMA lobby.

That said, we still registered since our home state includes an exchange and the deal for us was very good. We have both insurance in Mexico (Seguro Popular) and qualify for the Medicaid expansion in our home state because our income meets the criteria.

With respect to the ACA and the Medicaid expansions in those states that offer it - the test is an income test and NOT an asset test. That is, it is based on your annual income.

So, since we could sign up for the Medicaid expansion practically free we did, so that when we do return to the US for a brief visit we have that coverage.

Also - we contacted SkyMed to see if they would fly us home to Mexico instead of the other way around and they said they would. We have yet to sign up for SkyMed but we wanted to be treated by our own doctors and professionals here in Mexico.

I hope this helps and if you need any specifics, feel free to send me a PM.

:h

Americans can't even use MEDICARE outside the country.