Health Insurance for 25 year old

Parent Cafe
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<p>My oldest will be off of our health insurance at the end of July since he just graduated and will turn 25. We have been covered by United Health Care (PPO). He is healthy, and only goes to the doctor for routine annual exams. He has no history of any health issues. I’m having trouble muddling through all the options and there are many. He probably will not have a full-time job with benefits until late in the fall (studying for the bar exam now), if he’s lucky. We’ll be paying for the insurance and that’s not a problem. Any suggestions? I did contact our insurance carrier but it’s ridiculously expensive (close to $500 a month). Thanks for any input.</p>

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<p>When our daughter turned 25, we purchased temporary insurance through [Health</a> Insurance, Medical Insurance, Individual Health Insurance Quotes<a href=“mentioned%20in%20the%20article%20below”>/url</a>. We found an affordable policy (and she did have to file a claim later, which was handled smoothly).</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.suntimes.com/business/savage/667314,CST-FIN-c-Terry26.article]Online”>http://www.suntimes.com/business/savage/667314,CST-FIN-c-Terry26.article]Online</a> help for health insurance :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Terry Savage](<a href=“http://www.ehealthinsurance.com%5DHealth”>http://www.ehealthinsurance.com)</p>

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<p>There is much published about the pitfalls of private health insurance purchases.</p>

<p>Please do some careful reading regarding what to look for, and what to avoid. It is all too easy to purchase a policy that will fail you just when you need it the most.</p>

<p>A few pitfalls, from memory:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>pre-existing condition exclusions. You’d be amazed at how broadly this can be interpreted.</p></li>
<li><p>unlimited co-pay provisions. With a 20% co-pay, one serious illness or accident could run up a bill >$50,000, of which you’d be responsible for >$10,000. Most decent policies cap out of pocket costs.</p></li>
<li><p>not paying for the first day of hospitalization. Guess which day is most expensive? Guess when you have surgery and ICU time? </p></li>
<li><p>coverage only for listed services. A decent policy will cover everything not specifically excluded. </p></li>
<li><p>having scheduled costs. What if your expenses are over the schedule?</p></li>
</ul>

<p>This is just a start. Perhaps others can give links to good online articles. </p>

<p>I just want to emphasize: Do your homework. There is no cheap option. Inadequate coverage will fail just when you need it the most, and it may not just fail you financially. It could block one from accessing decent care. Do you want to gamble with your health, or life?</p>

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<p>I’ve been there with DS when he went off our program and did overseas internships.
I know how you feel. -Frustrated, confused, and ultimately you will be disgusted.
This is what I found:

  1. Providing companies do not have plans that have the same coverage or deductibles.
  2. Companies have different plans for different states.
  3. Companies can change the coverage and pricing as often as the state allows.
  4. Restrictions on who you can see or rather if the health provide accepts the insurance.
  5. And for a fortunate few, a tax savings and medical deductible fund. </p>

<p>I had DS do a HSA because he met the December eligibility (tax code). Was in a fairly high tax bracket. Was going to be even in a higher tax bracket on getting a permanent position. And he needed the assurance of coverage from being in different locales both foreign and domestic.</p>

<p>more later.</p>

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<p>Ugh. I can’t stress how much I hate this! So much to sift through. It’s not the cost as much as the difficulty in sorting out what we want/need, and what’s covered and not covered. So maybe I’ll just get the cobra for $491/month and be done with it! I just thought there must be something almost as good for less. I was ready to pick one when up popped “Mayo Clinic Does Not Accept this Insurance”. Not that, g-d forbid, we’ll ever need Mayo. But if we do, that’s where we’re going.</p>

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<p>Your cobra plan is more than likely to have restrictions on who you can see. Mayo clinic will probably be at a 50% or less reimbursement, only with a referral and after an annual deductible that satisfies family and individual deductibles. </p>

<p>The cobra program is for those people who normally cannot get insurance at any price. If you can afford the cobra, then you are in category #3- your son’s budget does not care, ie he “needs possibly (oxymoronic)” insurance coverage for vision, dental, and prescription (which has its own deductible). </p>

<p>Be realistic in your risk accessment. If you are worried, then welfare and the emergency room is the better options to paying for health insurance. </p>

<p>If you are really interested see the political subforum of the parent’s cafe.</p>

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<p>Shows how much I don’t know. I thought cobra would give us the exact same coverage as we have now, for 18 months, at a higher rate ($491). I’ll keep looking…</p>

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<p>In Washington, I was about to suggest to DS that he pick a insurance that excludes pregnancy over a similar program that includes pregnancy. I reasoned that the chances of him getting pregnant is virtually zero and the monthly premium was considerably less. I also figured that the difference between having presciptions and no having prescription coverage amounted to ~$1000 and if ever needed presciptions, savings from the lower premiums can buy a whole lot of drugs. </p>

<p>Likewise, vision and dental care, although not a deal killer, but I figured that he could pay out of pocket for vision and dental care and still be ahead in money. I look at myself who has vision and dental, but I haven’t seen the optometrist in years so I forgo the chance of new readers and frams.</p>

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<p>It only seems “ridiculously expensive” because you don’t see the full cost of insurance that your company pays. More than a decade ago, I was at a job where they gave you Flex Credits, and then you could use the Flex Credits to purchase insurance. Back then, the cost was $700/mo.</p>

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<p>out local hmo’s offer personal choice programs–you sign up for the health benefits, prescription benefits you want, and then you pay monthly. for my 25 year old son with a small prescription benefit, i find it an incredible bargain–probably around 150/month.</p>

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<p>In Oregon, 24 yo, Regence BS, HSA with BIG prescription benefit, was $100/mn (2008). His was better than yours :)</p>

<p>I would have suggested that he forgo the prescription benefit but I could only get HSA with that benefit. :(</p>

<p>When he was in India last year, he got Delhi-Belly (visiting Taj Mahal). Prescription cost was less than $US 10. and included the visiting doctor. He figured it wasn’t worth a call to Blue Cross to file a claim against his deductibles :p</p>

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<p>Check to see if your child’s law school has “GAP coverage.” Also check to see how long he remains covered under his law school student insurance (if he ever was). For the U our kids attend, everyone is covered thru mid-August if they purchased spring insurance. That’s how I’m planning to cover S after he graduates from college & before he starts a job. The premiums are high (about $400/month), but the coverage seems pretty decent–no pre-existing condition exclusion, high lifetime maximum, low deductibles, covers lots of docs (BC/BS). Good luck! His college insurance will cover him through mid-August after he graduates in May, so if he happens to start work & have coverage before mid-August, I might not even need to get him insurance! I’m still investigating for next fall, just in case.</p>

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<p>OP: suggest you double check the COBRA coverage. Ours will cover our son with the same plan he had before he graduated out of eligibility as a dependent.</p>

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<p>What state do you live in? Different states have different laws which greatly affect (or effect, can’t figure out which) the cost of insurance. Our 23 yr old son has his own Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC policy for around $150 per month.</p>

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<p>Check out Golden Rule, United’s health plans for individuals. 24 yr old S pays $60/month for a high deductible plan.</p>

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<p>[FAQs</a> For Employees About COBRA Continuation Health Coverage](<a href=“http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.HTML]FAQs”>http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.HTML)</p>

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<p>Several posters have suggested high deductible plans.</p>

<p>Like any other insurance purchase, you should shop carefully. High deductible plans can be great for some folks and a financial disaster for others. It depends on the policy and individual circumstances.</p>

<p>For our kids, a troubling aspect of high deductible plans is that the tax advantage aspect of them works best for someone in a high income bracket. I sadly suspect most of kids will not be in that category.</p>

<p>You need to do the math and look at “what if” scenarios. Keep in mind that high deductible means just that - you shoulder a large part of the cost. So you make a bet: that you won’t get sick. If you do, you lose big with these plans. </p>

<p>Curiously, HD plans often work better when the employer provides insurance because of plan features where the employer contributes (with tauntaxed money) to the tax advantaged account used to cover the high deductible. We don’t have that benefit in the private market.</p>

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<p>We live in Florida.</p>

<p>He will not be working for some time, he is not looking until he takes the bar. We’ll be paying, which is fine. </p>

<p>Our family motto is “what if’s”. We always choose and err on the side of caution. H is a physician and sees tons of uninsured patients. He just had an acquaintance with this scenario: Son is healthy young adult. Just went off health insurance, temporarily. Two weeks later son was diagnosed with leukemia.</p>

<p>I’ll look further at the cobra. We kept our NYS Empire Plan (United/BC) with us 19 years ago when we left New York. I’d like something as good. We were looking at Golden Rule, which was suggested by an agent. Just not sure of the coverage. I’ll check that closer, too.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>its not the amount of coverage or the lack of, but what people will pay for that coverage.</p>

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<p>YOU ARE IN FLORIDA!!! You can now continue to cover him as a dependent in Florida under many situations until the age of 30!. It appears if he is living in Florida, he still qualifies as a dependent. He does not have to be a student, nor does he have to reside with you, if he resides in Florida. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.akerman.com/documents/HealthCoverageThroughAge30.pdf[/url]”>http://www.akerman.com/documents/HealthCoverageThroughAge30.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
[Dependent</a> Coverage - Florida - Kaiser State Health Facts](<a href=“http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?rgn=11&ind=601&cat=7]Dependent”>http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?rgn=11&ind=601&cat=7)
<a href=“http://www.mdc.edu/hr/Benefits/Aetna/Dependent25-30.pdf[/url]”>http://www.mdc.edu/hr/Benefits/Aetna/Dependent25-30.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>other access to offorable coverage. <a href=“http://www.coverfloridahealthcare.com/[/url]”>http://www.coverfloridahealthcare.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;