Locked out of going home because of health insurance???

I live in the UK and have done so for about 15 years.
I’d love to move back to the US. We are living on his pension, although I work part time right now.
 I’m going to be 65 next year, and am married to a UK citizen who thinks paying for health care is crazy. I wonder if I could get on Medicare and him too?
I could maybe talk him into moving to the US if we could sort this out cheaply.

Do they take overseas work as part of your work requirements? I don’t have those 40 credits in the US, but taken with my UK work I think I would.

Does anyone know of a consultant I could pay to see if I can get Medicare now and my husband too? I don’t even know if I get Social Security to not. I’m assuming not…
Thanks!

My wife and I applied for and got our Medicare cards at age 65 while living in England, through the US Embassy in London.

If you contact them via their website they can easily see if you qualify.

https://uk.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/federal-benefits/

I live in the UK and have done so for about 15 years.
I’d love to move back to the US. We are living on his pension, although I work part time right now.
 I’m going to be 65 next year, and am married to a UK citizen who thinks paying for health care is crazy. I wonder if I could get on Medicare and him too?
I could maybe talk him into moving to the US if we could sort this out cheaply.

Do they take overseas work as part of your work requirements? I don’t have those 40 credits in the US, but taken with my UK work I think I would.

Does anyone know of a consultant I could pay to see if I can get Medicare now and my husband too? I don’t even know if I get Social Security to not. I’m assuming not…
Thanks!

Unfortunately, unlike Social Security, work abroad does not usually "count" for Medicare. (There could be an exception if, for instance, that work was for the US Government, possibly.)

https://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-04-2011/medicare-eligibility.html

​You qualify for full Medicare benefits if:​​

    You are a U.S. citizen or a permanent legal resident who has lived in the United States for at least five years and​
    You are receiving Social Security or railroad retirement benefits or have worked long enough to be eligible for those benefits but are not yet collecting them.​
    You or your spouse is a government employee or retiree who has not paid into Social Security but has paid Medicare payroll taxes while working.

[snip]

If you do not qualify on your own or through your spouse’s work record but are a U.S. citizen or have been a legal resident for at least five years, you can get full Medicare benefits at age 65 or older. You just have to buy into them by:​​

    Paying premiums for Part A, the hospital insurance. How much you would have to pay for Part A depends on how long you’ve worked. The longer you work, the more work credits you will earn. Work credits are earned based on your income; the amount of income it takes to earn a credit changes each year. In 2023 you earn one work credit for every $1,640 in earnings, up to a maximum of four credits per year.  If you have accrued fewer than 30 work credits, you pay the maximum monthly premium — $506 in 2023. If you have 30 to 39 credits, you pay less — $278 a month in 2023. If you continue working until you gain 40 credits, you will no longer pay these premiums.​

    Paying the same monthly premiums for Part B, which covers doctor visits and other outpatient services, as other enrollees pay. In 2023 the amount is $164.90 for individuals with a yearly income of $97,000 or less or those filing a joint tax return with $194,000 in income or less. Rates are higher for people with higher incomes.​

    Paying the same monthly premium for Part D prescription drug coverage as others enrolled in the drug plan you choose.​



[Those premiums are hella cheaper than buying coverage on the open market.]

OK, thanks everyone. I guess as they say:
“ you can’t go home again…”

Still, do check with the embassy - in case things have changed since last year. (They seem to be changing all the time!)

Still, do check with the embassy - in case things have changed since last year. (They seem to be changing all the time!)

+1

The online contact with them is going to cost you nothing. You may even get a call explaining the situation in full and tell you how much you’d have to pay for it.

Even if you were paying for part B at the full subsidized rate you would still need Medigap insurance plus part D prescription coverage.

Yes, I will check. Thanks.
As my father used to say: “you never know…”.

One other thought.

I'm on "traditional" medicare here - part A (hospital) that has no premium cost for me and is based on my work history; part B (doctors/labs, etc.) that I pay $165 a month for whether I use any of it or not but that only covers 80% of the Medicare-billed costs (which are much lower than the walk-in-off-the-street-without-Medicare charges); part D (drug coverage) that I pay about $10 a month for (but that has  no cost for my routine medicines and $5 for the occasional other med). I also pay $210 a month for a "Medigap" plan that covers all expenses that medicare would leave me -  the 20% co-pay for part B services, lengthy hospital care, etc.  So I'm paying basically just under $400 per month for my health coverage.  It could be much cheaper if I did a medicare "Advantage" plan, but those are too much like HMOs for my tastes, and come with all sorts of "gotchas" that you have to pay attention to before selecting a plan.  If I was living in California, I'd just switch over to Kaiser, which would be at no cost at all to me other than a $5 per visit co-pay as my old employer would pick up the costs. (The downside is that Kaiser is a HMO.)


All that said, there are other HMOs that might be of use to you.  Kaiser is one that comes to mind. They are not everywhere, but there may be an organization that is in the place you want to call home here. I remember looking at Kaiser last year for a friend and her husband, and it was going to cost them about $700 a month for cover (for the both of them) and only very low co-pays per visit. I believe expenses were capped at about $7,000 per year (they had no deductible, so this was if the co-pays or charges for medicine hit $7K, with a reminder that preventative care is free).  If they managed to run up bills to that amount anything above it would be at no cost. 

Because they were relatively low income (about $50,000 total per year) they qualified for government subsidies to cover almost the complete cost of the monthly premium.

TLDR answer is, don't assume Medicare is your only option.  If you have a general idea where you might want to settle in the USA, check for alternative options there.  Good luck!
 

Thank you Nan. I’ll look around to see what there is going. Maybe I can patch together something.

I admit it all seems VERY complicated. When I lived in the States it was before Obamacare, and we had great insurance through my husband’s work. I never had to call and plead for coverage,  or fight to have a procedure. I had two C-sections that included three days in the hospital and it cost us $50.00 each time.
My husband and I are heathy, and always have been, (no previous or ongoing conditions)but in “the zone” age wise where things can start to go wrong.

The NHS is so poor, and taxes here so high, that if I can find the right plan it might balance out. We would like to go to NM. We almost bought a house there a few years ago but the healthcare business stopped us. I wish I had never mentioned it as potential difficulty. We would have just had to live with the situation and paid up. In the end we went to Canada, which I hated every minute I was in the Vancouver area. My husband wouldn’t entertain anywhere else. (And he said I was picky!).

Anyway, we wound up back here in the  UK and I have to say the last couple of year’s weather has left me longing for America. We aren’t getting any younger and it’s difficult with all the mud, constant wind and cold . I don’t think I had even one day last year where I didn’t wear a sweater even in the house. All the mud makes me feel like I’m living in the Neolithic!
I love my house, but haven’t any  close friends, and I spend my days watching my husband cut branches in the garden. My son still lives in the Vancouver area and I miss him terribly. I don’t get to see him very often. I miss the optimism and cheerfulness of Americans. Although I think maybe that has changed somewhat. Needless to say I’m dying on the vine.

So, on the sly, I’m sorta looking at the possibilities in America. I might get one more move out of the husband if it’s NM or similar.
I thought maybe being older might for once be a good thing. I didn’t work very much whilst living in America, and much of the time I was raising my kids. So most of my work history is in the UK.
Cheers

Am I right in thinking prescription drugs aren’t just the antibiotics you get at the drug store with a script, but also major things like chemo, or drugs used in surgery if needed?

I. 64 now, so if we moved and I worked enough to get the 30 credits before taking Medicare, would that then be cost free?
Sorry, but I’m not really up on how the whole thing works.

Thank you Nan. I’ll look around to see what there is going. Maybe I can patch together something.

I admit it all seems VERY complicated. When I lived in the States it was before Obamacare, and we had great insurance through my husband’s work. I never had to call and plead for coverage,  or fight to have a procedure. I had two C-sections that included three days in the hospital and it cost us $50.00 each time.
My husband and I are heathy, and always have been, (no previous or ongoing conditions)but in “the zone” age wise where things can start to go wrong.

The NHS is so poor, and taxes here so high, that if I can find the right plan it might balance out. We would like to go to NM. We almost bought a house there a few years ago but the healthcare business stopped us. I wish I had never mentioned it as potential difficulty. We would have just had to live with the situation and paid up. In the end we went to Canada, which I hated every minute I was in the Vancouver area. My husband wouldn’t entertain anywhere else. (And he said I was picky!).

Anyway, we wound up back here in the  UK and I have to say the last couple of year’s weather has left me longing for America. We aren’t getting any younger and it’s difficult with all the mud, constant wind and cold . I don’t think I had even one day last year where I didn’t wear a sweater even in the house. All the mud makes me feel like I’m living in the Neolithic!
I love my house, but haven’t any  close friends, and I spend my days watching my husband cut branches in the garden. My son still lives in the Vancouver area and I miss him terribly. I don’t get to see him very often. I miss the optimism and cheerfulness of Americans. Although I think maybe that has changed somewhat. Needless to say I’m dying on the vine.

So, on the sly, I’m sorta looking at the possibilities in America. I might get one more move out of the husband if it’s NM or similar.
I thought maybe being older might for once be a good thing. I didn’t work very much whilst living in America, and much of the time I was raising my kids. So most of my work history is in the UK.
Cheers

I hope you find something that suits your needs. I’m a member of a US retirement forum that I frequent and recently there was another thread on Medicare plans and options. The costs seem to vary  between $5k  and $9k per year so a big variance.  Hopefully the ACA plans are not too different for you.

We lived for 29 years in Texas and Louisiana so can certainly appreciate why you long for warmer weather. We used to have a friend from NM (while we lived in Texas) who moved back to Carlsbad after her husband  died. We have visited and it does seem very nice.

Am I right in thinking prescription drugs aren’t just the antibiotics you get at the drug store with a script, but also major things like chemo, or drugs used in surgery if needed?

Yes, those major drugs would be covered.

Thanks, Durhamlad. I’ll look for that other forum.
I took some US friends to Durham Cathedral last year and they loved it, even if it did rain the whole time!

I. 64 now, so if we moved and I worked enough to get the 30 credits before taking Medicare, would that then be cost free?
Sorry, but I’m not really up on how the whole thing works.

I. 64 now, so if we moved and I worked enough to get the 30 credits before taking Medicare, would that then be cost free?
Sorry, but I’m not really up on how the whole thing works.

No, not free. See Nans post above, she pays about $400/month but you could pay a lot more depending on the coverages you choose and the co-pays when you use the doctors and hospitals

We were in Durham Castle and the Cathedral this week. Rain of course