<p>She will graduating in May and no longer eligible under the family health plan. Hopefully she will find a job within a few months that will provide coverage but who knows. She will be in Wahington DC. Does anyone know where to look for reasonable healthcare for healthy young adults? Is the best choice for this demographic a high deductible? Your input is very much appreciated.</p>
<p>Is that true that she’ll be immediately cut off from your health insurance when she graduates? Or is there a grace period? How does your insurance company know that she isn’t planning on continuing with her education?</p>
<p>What if she planned on going to school again in the fall (as a fall-back measure if a job didn’t come thru).</p>
<p>Our kiddo graduated from his masters program on May 30. His last day of coverage on our policy was May 31. Mom2collegekids…you are supposed to NOTIFY the insurance company if your child graduates. If you don’t and you submit claims and they are NOT in college, the company can ask you for payment later on. That is NOT a good plan. The provisions of coverage vary by policy and by state. Some states DO have provisions for former dependents to continue on the family health insurance plan until ages 24, 25, or 26. However, in virtually all these cases, the child MUST reside in the same state as the parents. </p>
<p>Our plan, for example, is very clear. Coverage ENDS the last day of the same month as graduation. No grace period. I would advocate honesty in this case and not simply deciding not to inform the company that your child is not continuing in college the following year. </p>
<p>I know there is a website (I’m sorry I don’t have it) that has individual health insurance policies. You choose the coverage you wish to have and fill out a form with medical info…it gives you estimated premiums. For a healthy young person with no medical issues and no ongoing need for prescription coverage, a higher deductible individual policy should be available. </p>
<p>We actually worked with an insurance broker for our son…but he was in the same state as we live in so that made it easier.</p>
<p>All insurance is $reasonable$ , its just what you covered and how much you want to pay. </p>
<p>Private insurance will be based on how much you can afford.
Group (employer) insurance will be based on group average age and group experience.
Drs, hospitals enroll into insurance plans or not. </p>
<p>Your and yours search will be an education. Guaranteed.</p>
<p>I used Grad Med when I was in a similar situation to your daughter. I have no idea whether it’s good or not because luckily I didn’t have to make any claims on it.</p>
<p>If your daughter is low-income and low-asset she might also qualify for DC Alliance, which is a public health insurance program in DC. [Department</a> of Human Services: HealthCare Alliance IMA](<a href=“http://dhs.dc.gov/dhs/cwp/view,A,3,Q,638613.asp]Department”>http://dhs.dc.gov/dhs/cwp/view,A,3,Q,638613.asp)</p>
<p>*Our kiddo graduated from his masters program on May 30. His last day of coverage on our policy was May 31. Mom2collegekids…you are supposed to NOTIFY the insurance company if your child graduates. If you don’t and you submit claims and they are NOT in college, the company can ask you for payment later on. That is NOT a good plan. *</p>
<p>when my kids graduate, as long as they are going to go to school again in the fall, they stay on our insurance. </p>
<p>So, that’s why I asked if the child could register for fall classes as a “fall back” in case a job doesn’t happen.</p>
<p>You can buy a 6 month temporary insurance policy for not much money…</p>
<p>My parents don’t have insurance (they are self-employed) and haven’t for as long as I can remember. They also never go to the doctor because its too expensive, so I’ve been on the school’s insurance since I came here. I’m hoping to go to graduate school next year so I hope they’ll have something available for me there.</p>
<p>P.S. Does anyone else think it says something really sad about our society that one would think of giving the ability to go to the doctor as a graduation gift?</p>
<p>I too have a graduating senior this year and our insurance company cancels his insurance within the same month. The premiums are expensive, but not having health care is out of the question. I just inquired this past week about the premiums and I had to take a big gulp…next year I have two more graduating. We go from tuition to health insurance.</p>
<p>Eight years ago I had to start buying my own insurance (and my children’s) on the open market after my husband’s union stopped covering dependents. (Well, they’ll still cover them but at premiums much higher than just buying individual insurance.) I have a high deductible, pretty no-frills plan, but for my daughter (she’s still an undergrad) it’s a little under $80/month. It’s Blue Cross, but we never go to the doctor. It’s just too expensive and we never make the deductible so the insurance is almost worthless… I mean it’s just there for something ghastly, really. My son has decent insurance from his college for last 2 years, but after he graduates … geesh, I don’t know.</p>
<p>Just shopped for individual high deductible plan for grad student son.
What I learned, for what it’s worth:</p>
<p>ehealthinsurance.com is as good a place as any to start.
plans based by state, so I pay for son’s plan but he lives in another state for school.
buy what you need, in our case, 100% coverage after $2500/yr deductible.
so son basically has NO insurance for the little stuff but probably adequate for large bills.
most school insurance is bare bones. our DS schools plan has a vERY low yearly maximum, about $3000. One hospital admission day eats that up, so it was useless to us.
employeer group coverage differs greatly. my plan covered son till Dec of year he turned 23, whether in school or not. quite generous. BUT they would not allow me to keep him on after that till age 30 the way non self-funded plans in NJ now must.</p>
<p>Best of luck in your search. It took us about 3 months to secure coverage. Allow time for underwriting.</p>
<p>Our insurance allows our graduating son to stay on the policy through the end of the calendar year. He hopes to have a job with insurance by then.</p>
<p>Musicmom - your son’s plan looks like a pretty good one- how affordable is it?</p>
<p>Our daughter took a year off from graduate school last year- she lives in Massachusetts, fortunately, so she was able to get a decent plan with a high limit for $198 a month which she paid for out of her very small salary. She could have had a cheaper one, but she wanted the highest possible limit, as one accident can easily rack up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
She never needed to use it, fortunately.</p>
<p>I agree with musicmom that ehealthinsurance.com is a great place to start and will quickly give you a good idea of the premiums in your area. They can vary greatly depending on location. Also have the student check with the alumni associations at the college. As graduation approached, my one S got lots of info that included access to temporary group insurance for new grads intended to tide them over until they are employed.</p>
<p>Something for anybody
nothing for you.
If only you can be somebody
insured you can be too
Even a BOC
is not as good as a MOC.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Boy, you folks are more generous than my folks. They split the health insurance cost 50/50 with me through college, but I was on my own after that.</p>
<p>Bigtrees, I don’t see my husband and I paying the kids health insurance after college. I imagine they will have periods of gappy coverage just like I did. I know many, many people without health insurance. The ones that are my age are just hoping the make it to Medicare in the next 5-10 years before they get sick. It’s just not possible for many folks to make those premium payments, it’s a choice between rent, food, transportation… isn’t gonna happen.</p>
<p>moonchild-
$104/month in Connecticut. Varies GREATLY by state. And health of the insured, of course.</p>
<p>'rentof2- we are not wealthy at all and don’t intend to pay much of ANYTHING once son graduates in May 2011 from Masters. EXCEPT health insurance…just one incident can have life changing effects for a young adult. We will pay for basic catastrophic coverage until he has his own (which I hope will not be tooooo long). </p>
<p>Too many years of working in hospitals and knowing what the bills look like…just me!</p>
<p>And another reminder, that before your student graduates…if you have dental, have the kid get teeth cleaned, checked, xrays, etc. in enough time to have any work done. If you have vision, get an eye appt and update glasses or contacts. Kid should get a physical and whatever prescriptions might be needed - 90 day prescriptions when possible, and question whether pill splitting might stretch the prescriptions if appropriate (I can hear the screaming NO NO NO now, but it’s better than skipping pills to save money). </p>
<p>If you have a legal plan that covers the kids, make sure they do their wills, health care power of attorney and living will before they go off the plan. Go through each of your benefits and make sure that the kid has whatever is possible. Make a note about calling the carrier to report that your kid is off the plan, since you don’t want to get stuck paying for benefits that aren’t useable.</p>
<p>Oh, to be young, innocent about insurance and healthy again…</p>
<p>I’m with musicmom…I will not let my kids be without health insurance…and yes, I know it’s going to be costly for me. My kids are very grateful. Keep your fingers crossed that DD gets a job with benefits when she graduates!!!</p>
<p>By making sure my d has health insurance I am protecting my own assets. I need my assets to retire so it is in both of our best interests to make sure that she is insured. I would always want my daughter to have the best care possible and so I’m vulnerable.</p>