Public Health Care And Public Assistance
Can I still qualify for Medicaid or Medicare even if I already have private health insurance? Financial planner, Jason Lazarus, explains how a person with private health care may still qualify for public assistance.
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Step 1:
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Private Health Care
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If an injury victim has private health care coverage, typically that private health care coverage is going to be the primary payer. That coverage could have a lifetime cap on it which can be quickly exceeded in the case of a catastrophic injury, so once that cap has been exceeded, then at that point there might not be any more money available to pay for health care. At that point, the injury victim will need to look for other sources.
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Step 2:
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Public Benefit Programmes
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Apply for SSI Medicaid, maybe qualify for Medicare coverage if they are eligible for the Social Security disability income payments. The public benefit programs,though, are typically secondary payers, specifically Medicare is always the secondary payer. Medicaid is going to pick up if the person meets those financial eligibility requirements and there is not private health care coverage that will cover the medical care at the present time.