<p>I haven’t posted here in a long time, but I figured that people here have faced this or know someone who has. My daughter is 21 and graduates in the spring. She will be looking for jobs that I know won’t insure her. She is a technical theater major. If she can get into the union, she will be fine. In case she doesn’t, does anyone know the rules on insurance for dependents after graduation. I live in NJ and I hear something about being able to carry your grown children until they are 30. </p>
<p>So any advise or here say is a helpful.
Thanks,</p>
<p>Immediately upon graduation our insurance company dropped our daughter. (Antheum, Blue Cross). She could have gone COBRA at something like $500 per month. Instead my husband (who specializes in insurance bad faith so he can read a policy pretty darn well…) went to Antheum and bought an individual policy. One preexisting condition:ADD. Our cost (although she does have a job and will be covered in 3 months) including dental, vision, prescriptions and visits on a PPO is about $160 per month: One visit to an emergency room: $5,000 and up. Well worth the peace of mind.</p>
<p>As for carrying your child until 30…this may be a state mandated thing, but it seems highly unlikely that a “child” should be allowed on their parents’ insurance policy (unless this is a family owned business for example) until they are at the cusp of middle age.</p>
<p>Our son was dropped from our health insurance policy on the day he graduated from college (since he was no longer a full-time student). Rules can vary—our older daughter was allowed to remain on the policy until the end of the calendar year because she graduated in June instead of May (and was therefore a full-time student for more than five full months that year). </p>
<p>We obtained temporary major medical coverage for our graduates from eHealthinsurance.com. We live in Illinois, but I think there are options for people living in other states. It really gave us peace of mind, and turned out to be a blessing for our daughter, who needed a trip to the emergency room during that short-term policy time (her deductible was high, however). You can also try gohealthinsurance.com, which I’ve heard positive things about. Good luck!</p>
<p>ellebud- that is a great premium, for my DD for $96/mo we could have purchased an HSA high deductible plan, no dental, no vision, pretty much only covering catastrophe.</p>
<p>I checked with our state approved low income plan and DD can buy her own basic coverage, sliding scale, and I paid for one year of a dental HMO for $300 to give her a jump start, now in grad school, as a TA, the school pays for that same basic health plan any time she is TAing. It is not great, but it will cover an emergency</p>
<p>My husband did not do anything “special” to get this rate other then call Antheum and ask for an individual policy. Obviously all our kids are in a very low risk group, young and healthy. My son also has an Antheum policy and pays about the same rate. Call around, use a broker, call the companies directly (I am suggesting all of the above) and then compare rates.</p>
<p>Many insurance plans allow your children to be covered (up to a certain age), but after 18 they have to be registered as a full-time student. If they’re not, then they’re on their own. </p>
<p>I would look into a ‘high deductible’ plan. As mentioned earlier, these plans usually have a deducible of about $5,000 per year. If you get sick and visit your physician you’ll pay out of pocket… but if something really bad happens then you have the piece of mind of knowing that you won’t be faced with crazy medical bills. </p>
<p>If they’re young and healthy these plans can make sense if you’re faced with getting insurance on your own. It’s not as good as traditional ‘full coverage’ health insurance, but the relatively small price is well worth the piece of mind.</p>
<p>In Jersey you can continue to cover your kids under your policy until they’re 25 or 28 (forget which) as long as they live with you and do not have a full time job OR they attend a school full time.</p>
<p>Plans can be different so you should read the one that covers your family. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that our health plan covers dependents up to the age of 25, whether they are in college or not. I had always assumed that once our D graduated from college, she was no longer covered by our plan.</p>
<p>Your D has to be a dependent, though–and you’ll have to check to see what a kid has to be to be considered a dependent.</p>
<p>It really depends on your plan and each plan is different. Before my D1 went to college a month ago, I called the insurance company and found that our plan (PPO) covers dependents up to 23 years old, regardless of student status. When a dependent reaches his 23 year-birthday, our plan will continue to cover until Dec, 31 of that year. So if a dependants birthday is in January, the plan will almost cover near his 24th birthday.</p>
<p>Another thing I learned from the insurance representative is that if a student in college is in need of medical assistance, he should try the medical facilities/ doctors in the network of the health plan, and most of the student health departments in colleges are not part of the PPO network.</p>