<p>You do have to be careful in getting independent health insurance. Even when familiar names are used, you many not be getting decent coverage. You want good catastrophic coverage. It is not that easy. If you can get hold of someone who specializes in health insurance, it would be worth getting his appraisal. I’ve been reading too much about folks who did not get what they thought they were getting in health insurance and companies who have gone broke and could not pay on the health commitment. THis whole thing is such a mess.</p>
<p>My son just had a bad bicycle accident. The bill – for ER, scans, etc, plus one night in the hospital – was nearly $15K. Our out of pocket will be about $500. In addition, the dental work required will be covered as a <em>medical</em> claim, not a dental claim – he will need a crown. Possibly a root canal. The plastic surgery required – a bad scar on his face will need repair this fall. Cost TBD, but a medical claim.</p>
<p>He’s 17 and still covered by our insurance. What if he was a little older and it wasn’t?</p>
<p>(Even worse – what if he wasn’t wearing his helmet???)</p>
<p>The Today Show had a segment on money management today and mentioned a website: [Health</a> Insurance, Medical Insurance, Individual Health Insurance Quotes](<a href=“http://www.ehealthinsurance.com%5DHealth”>http://www.ehealthinsurance.com)</p>
<p>My oldest two are self employed so they bought catostrophic health insurance for themselves. Blue Cross offers a “young adult” rate for about $50/month for those under 30. It works very well for the young and healthy. Oldest has only had to visit a doctor once in the two years he’s had this insurance for a bad case of poison ivy. Total office visit about $85 plus the prescription. So has saved a bunch of money over regular insurance. </p>
<p>Second son has not had a doctor’s visit so has saved even more. On the other hand, they would more likely hesitate to go to a doctor for the flu if they have that kind of insurance.</p>
<p>Also, when we were on a family vacation they were going on an excursion that was risky. I reminded him that he only had catostrophic insurance so be careful. His reply: “oh, don’t worry, it would be catostrophic.” Great!</p>
<p>I don’t believe in paying their health insurance either, because they need to learn what choices are in life. If you want to work part time, be self employed, or even not work, then that is your choice, not my problem.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take much… my son was playing in a baseball game last spring - running down the line, stopped suddenly to avoid a tag, and blew out his knee. He was still covered by my insurance - but my out of pocket is now up to 6,000. Without insurance, the total would be more that $75,000. </p>
<p>I’d provide the insurance - because I know that if he did not have insurance and something like this happened, I’d be writing checks for $75,000… I am as tough love as the next guy - but having my kid unable to walk because I am unwilling to write a check is too tough for me.</p>
<p>I don’t like the idea of paying their health insurance but if they are not responsible that way, be aware that you may have more heavy duty choices if a catastrophe should occur. That is when their choice becomes your problem. I can see them taking a lot of their own consequences, but life/death, permanent disablement is more than I can swallow, foolish as they may be and deserving as they may be. I will make sure they are covered with health insurance.</p>
<p>we were in your position last year this time - got Cobra for my s until he did get a job with ins…h is a surgeon and full well knows what happens to folks with no ins…</p>
<p>my suggestion: offer to pay him what you might save on your own plan by removing him - i.e. if you could go from family to married no children - or just offer to pay a certain amount as a gift for a period of time - a year for example - but get him to research and actually pay the bill for the ins…</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and suggestions. I deeply appreciate them. I’ll pass the practical suggestions onto my S (and do a bit of research myself).</p>
<p>MidwestMom2Kids, Yes, he has a roommate, and he lives in NYC. He is not the least bit materialistic, doesn’t use his credit card on personal expenses, so it’s hard to see where he could save more money. I guess he could always eat more rice and beans!</p>
<p>cptofthehouse, I’m in complete agreement. I think that grown kids should learn real responsibility – support themselves, make choices and live with the consequences, etc, but that the financial issue of health insurance is too great a risk for us, his parents. It has helped me a lot to hear this opinion from so many of you, it confirms my own inclination that as much as I’m willing to let him live with all the ups and downs of HIS life, I would never be able to stand by and let him suffer if it is a matter of money for medical bills. “Not my problem” is not even remotely a possible position for us. It’s a tough one, we’re lucky that it’s an option for us to help him pay for insurance, wherever he gets it and IF he needs our help, but my heart goes out to people for whom this is not an option.</p>
<p>It does make it easier that he is now hardworking, frugal, and has never asked us for money, even when starting out with his business. (Like I said before, this is a kid who flaked out on high school, hated school and homework, and drove us nuts trying to get him just to graduate, much less worry about his GPA. There is hope for everyone!) I can’t imagine the resentment I would feel if I had to pay his insurance while he was being a lazy, selfish jerk. At any rate, he will probably get the catastrophic type and we may help him with payments for a limited time. But I will stress to him that insurance is not optional.</p>
<p>The most important thing to look for when our kids are buying their own insurance is “unlimited” coverage in case of catastrophe. Many of the cheaper Young Adult plans have limits around $50,000, which was not enough for our peace of mind. One surgery, if serious, can eat that up in a heartbeat. Our kids think that’s a lot of money and may not see the need to pay up for better coverage, so this is where parents need to really make the case for their own, and their kid’s, protection.</p>
<p>I pay my daughter’s catastrophic health insurance policy ($2500/year deductible, WA state) for $90/month. My son pays his own catastrophic policy at $49/month (California). I suggest searching for high-deductible insurance. It is out there in many states. (My sister was unable to find such a policy in New York state, however.)</p>
<p>Cronie:</p>
<p>Great point - one of the most important things to look at is the cap (or limit) on the coverage. In my opinion, this is, not the deductible, is the most important thing. You are buying insurance for the worst case - not for the sniffles. Get a high deductible, unlimited (or nearly unlimited) cap.</p>
<p>I’m sure this varies from plan to plan, but I need to take a year off before heading to grad school to gain work experience, during which time I will be probably covered under COBRA. If I then go back to grad school full-time, will I be able to get back on my parents’ health insurance as a dependent?</p>
<p>You have to find out. Once our kid is off, she’s off no matter what she does in the future.</p>
<p>This is interesting because DD, who is a college senior this year, and I just had this conversation about her next year. We were discussing independence, and kids being unable to separate from their parents. I sadi that my willing ness to help financially after graduation depended on the circumstances, and it was very hard to say ahead of time what I would want to do in any particular situation. I said I would be much more likely to insist on helping with health insurance than covering the the expense of a better apartment, for instance. She said, what if the place isn’t safe. My response was that it would have to be pretty unsafe before I stepped in. Health insurance, perhpas a low interest loan for tuition, a free hand to shop our house for old furniture, etc. the thing about health insurance is that I wouldn’t let her go without health care, and if something catastrophic did happen it would affect our financial condition for years to come - she is still our daughter, after all.</p>
<p>This group of young adults is now a primary focus of insurance companies advertising campaigns and is viewed as a large and previously untapped market. There should be a policy out there for the OP’s son and if he cannot afford it and she can, perhaps it can be his birthday or holiday gift for the year. It will be very cheap unless he has pre-existing conditions, in which case it will likely be outrageous. I dread the day (coming soon enough) when my son has to apply for insurance so I will definitely try to follow the example of having him attend CC in order to stay on our policy a while longer.</p>
<p>juba2jive: Yes, it varies from plan to plan. You should call your parents’ health insurer and inquire.</p>
<p>In our family’s case, our children are covered under our health insurance plan as long as they are full-time students and under the age of 23. One of my kids withdrew from college for a semester and worked, at which time he went on COBRA. When he returned to school in the fall, he went back on our family health insurance policy. </p>
<p>Other families I know have health insurance policies with different requirements.</p>
<p>We paid for our oldest via COBRA until he was eligible through his company. He is now on his own. If he should change jobs, I will question him about health insurance, though I think he has learned how important it is. I can’t take that chance that something might happen and he is uninsured.</p>
<p>At the very minimum obtain high deductible policy. Health guarantees insurance not the premium. One of the considerations that the insured should consider whether there is enough funds to pay the deductibles. </p>
<p>We started a HSA for grad son. Although the premium is fairly high ($91/mn without dental, vision, prescripts.), the HSA savings account is deductible from income and can be used for out of pocket expenses for dental, vision, and prescrips.</p>
<p>So for you parents who pay for their adult post-college kid’s health insurance when they’re in a position to pay for it themselves but simply refuse to do so, how long will you pay? Will you pay when they’re 25, 30, 40 years old? </p>
<p>I understand that some recent grads still need some help since it can take some to start earning a self-sustaining income but there are plenty who are making a choice not to have it because they’d rather spend the money on a more expensive car, etc. I also have known some ‘kids’ still dependent on their parents way beyond when they should be.</p>
<p>If a parent decides to pay anyway when their adult kid simply chooses not to, I kind of like the idea of another poster that this becomes their Christmas/Hannukah/Birthday present assuming that’s all they get along with the reminder that they need to become more responsible for themselves.</p>
<p>Yep, it will be a good part of thier gifts if they do not pay for it themselves. One of mine got textbooks one year after losing his school books. Wrapped up real purdy under the tree too. He did get other gifts but he was old enough to also see with the jest there was some seriousness in that we could not spend as much on fun thing if he was making us pay for necessities. We could have just not replaced the books, but the consequences would have been bad grades and excuses as he was just not mature enough then to be able to see so far.</p>
<p>I would not be quietly paying for the health insurance either. I would let them know the cost, and, yes, it would affect other expenditures and help I could give them. </p>
<p>I am expecting to have to pay for my second one’s health insurance for a while as he will be a poor starving artist. That went into his decision to go to a state school rather than some private choices which has saved us a lot of money over these 4 years. So we will try to ante up more for him as a result. Not a dollar for dollar exchange, but more in terms of understanding how things are going to be. </p>
<p>It does get hairy. What if they marry, have children and still do not have health insurance after all of those years? I guess there may come a point when we have to bite the bullet. Maybe not. Hopefully, things will change in terms of health insurance in this country, his job situation, his monetary situation, his priorities. Will take it as it comes. But right now I would not want a 20 something year old with no health insurance. Fortunately we have the means to provide it both knowledge wise and monetarily. </p>
<p>With my 25 year old, the issue was only a couple month gap as he pretty quickly was offered and took health insurance through his job. But I know a number of parents who are struggling with this issue with kids who are now adults. I guess there comes a point when they get the insurance and you stop asking if they still have it. If they drop it, you just don’t know. I do not check up on my son regularly as to whether he still has insurance. I know he does because of some of the mail we still get, but it is not an active issue as it was a few years ago when it was a concern.</p>