romanigypsyeyes

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, don't know the difference between the Parent Cafe and Parents Forum.

I need some health insurance advice. My boyfriend is looking for insurance but has no idea where to start. He is independent (even for FAFSA purposes because he was declared homeless by the school while in high school) and has no contact with his dad (a drug addict) and has very little contact with his mom (who is clinically insane). He will be 20 in just a few weeks, is a full time student at a community college, and his only source of income is work-study. He really, really needs insurance but has no idea where to start looking. He has been uninsured for nearly a year because that was when MIChild expired. The school itself doesn't provide any type of insurance but they recommended a state one that is nearly $100 a month (that he can't afford). I also looked at Aetna which quoted him at $53 a month, but that is only a quote.

Does anyone have any advice for him? We just honestly have no idea where to turn. Oh we live in Michigan btw.

Thanks in advance!

UMDAD

Are you referring to health insurance?

romanigypsyeyes

Oh gosh. Yes lol. Wow, can't believe I didn't mention that. I guess health insurance is the only type of insurance I am used to talking about. Edited it .

UMDAD

Go to the Blue Cross website. I seem to remember that they have a "Young Adult" product for about $50 a month. That may be old information.

kelsmom

Health Alliance Plan has SOLO. Might be worth checking into. We've had HAP for years & it works well for us.

Puzzled88

Look at ehealthinsurance.com
That website was recommended to me by someone who worked for our state insurance agency.

OaksMom

If the community college he attends has any sort of health office start there, they usually have health coverage plans aimed at students. If there is no such office at the school he is currently at then call the public health dept for your county and ask them about low-cost health care coverage for a student. They may be able to point you towards an alternative to purchasing private health care coverage.

I want to applaud you and your boyfriend for looking into this and accepting responsibility for his own healthcare. More people should be thinking like you two!

CIA

I don't know how Medicaid works really, but if he's an adult and only making money from work/study, wouldn't he be eligible?

romanigypsyeyes

UM, kels, and puzz: Thanks for your suggestions! I am passing them on to him .

Oaks, his CC has nothing and they pointed us to the county one. The county one is nearly $100/month and there seems to be much cheaper ones. Plus, we live in the same county as Detroit so the county health care is not reliable since it's supporting so many people. And thanks Oaks , I just wish it was easier to get health insurance for a struggling college student. Both cost-wise and information-wise. I am pretty self-reliant, but health insurance has even me scratching my head .

CIA, he doesn't qualify for medicaid. Only people his age that are married, pregnant, or sick/disabled qualify. We have highly considered getting married so that we could both get health insurance (I am also only minimally insured) but we decided against it, for now.

atomom

OK, I might get flamed for suggesting this, but is there a real reason he needs health insurance?
If he is young and healthy, he could probably pay for an occasional doc visit or medicine--cheaper than insurance.

(H and I chose not to buy student insurance for 6 1/2 years. . .we even had 3 kids during that time. We were not on public assistance, but living on student loans and part-time jobs. I'm not sure if I would choose to do this again, but young healthy people are low risk.)

romanigypsyeyes

He hasn't been to the doctors in nearly three years. Last year, he got really sick from the flu (like really, REALLY sick) and he is just trying to get it as a precaution. He is not extremely healthy and both of his parents have chronic illnesses that are hereditary (which he hasn't shown symptoms of... yet) and he'd prefer to have some kind of fall back just in case.

LongPrime

In any state, they are 3 predominate, HI companies. You need to get not only price quotes but also what the insurance pays and you are obligated to pay beyond the premium.

Voting age? Confused? What are your options? Don't know what you need? Get yourself educated by the HI companies. You must be proactive.

3bm103

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan offers catastrphic health insurance for young people under 30 for either $48 or $52 a month depending on how picky you want to be with your doctors. Go on to their website and search the different options. It won't cover routine care or prescriptions (although you can get a discount at a pharmacy if you're covered) and it has a high deductible, but if something terrible were to happen, like an accident or devastating illness, he will be covered.

Consolation

We had health insurance with a $15K deductible for a number of years. It cost about $350-400 per month for two adults.

What he needs to decide is whether he wants to get "catastrophic" coverage, which is what we had, or coverage that will pay for routine care, perhaps with a copay. I can tell you that almost the only people who have the latter are those who receive it through an employer. It is simply too expensive for the rest of us.

Even if he decides to go with high deductible, there are differing levels--$5K, $10K, et al--with corresponding prices. And it is possible to get high deductible that includes a small amount of preventative care.

One big reason why people shell out for high deductible coverage is pre-existing condition exclusions. Even a previously non-diagnosed condition can be declared "pre-existing" and coverage can be denied. That happened to me in my early 20s when a tumor was discovered. In the past, anyway, if you were continuously covered by someone, they couldn't do this.