Medicare Advantage - Living Abroad

[MW Agent]

I'm not sure if this a dead end yet, bought thought I was ask here first before researching. Client referred her parents to me. They reside in the Middle East nine months of the year, live in the US for 3 months. They already have Part A & Part B in place along with a PDP.

They do not need additional medical coverage while living abroad, they utilize the state health care option available in Iraq. However, they would like more coverage than that afforded to them by Original Medicare.

My questions: Are they out of luck getting on a MA plan given they are only here three months of the year? A med supp would be difficult to medical history and being beyond the first 6 months of being Part B eligible.

 

[somarco]

Medicare coverage when living abroad - Medicare Interactive

 

[TwoCents]

They're already on thin ice with the PDP and not living permanently in the US. I wouldn't touch writing MA knowing their circumstances.

 

[StephanieCJ]

I don't remember the exact time length, but they have to live in the plans service area at least a certain length of time. It may possibly vary with each carrier, so I would start there.

 

[TwoCents]

I don't remember the exact time length, but they have to live in the plans service area at least a certain length of time. It may possibly vary with each carrier, so I would start there.

You're coming at it from the wrong angle. You're allowed to be absent from the plan's service area for a certain amount of time (as allowed by CMS rules -- could you imagine if all the carriers did it differently??). So first one must permanently live in the plan's service area which I would say these people do not.

 

[MW Agent]

You're coming at it from the wrong angle. You're allowed to be absent from the plan's service area for a certain amount of time (as allowed by CMS rules -- could you imagine if all the carriers did it differently??). So first one must permanently live in the plan's service area which I would say these people do not.

I called a carrier, they told me they would go off of CMS's listing of permanent residency and CMS would ask questions if they had conflicting information such as income taxes, property taxes, or voter registration information.

They have a permanent address in the state listed with Social Security (although they are only there less than 3 months per year) and as long as they didn't report being out of the service area for 6 months, I doubt it would ever be an issue. That being said, I walked away from this one.

 

[somarco]

I walked away from this one.

Smart.

Very smart.