I’m sure there already is a thread about this, but I don’t know how to find it.
Happykid’s U of TN insurance coverage runs out at the end of July. Her lease ends mid-August, and she’s moving to MD then.
TN ACA insurance for August and then MD ACA?
Private insurance that works in more than one state for one month and then MD ACA?
Trusting the hive mind here will have suggestions for us.
Does her U of TN have any COBRA eligibility? I have seen some in this situation skip any insurance for the transitional month, figuring they would sign up for COBRA after the fact if anything critical happened. Risky, but popular in some groups.
this is the correct answer - one month of cobra from U of TN and then market for MD the following month.
COBRA is not available for university health plans.
She can get a short term health plan in TN for August, then get regular insurance in MD beginning in September. She may be able to find a short term policy that covers her in more than one state. If not, she may need to get a short term policy in each state in August. She could get very basic coverage that will protect her in case of a major health issue.
that is a bummer - I guess I forgot that - guess she needs something else in TN for that month
Safe to assume the parents don’t have insurance that can cover the entire family? Kids can stay on a parent’s policy until age 26.
My kid will soon be in this position too, and has several chronic illnesses, including type 1 diabetes, the most expensive for insurance companies to cover. We are just beginning to look into this and will read this thread if it continues.
@kelsmom - I was wondering about short-term health plans because she will be in TN for only the first half of the month. But I have no idea where to look to find anything about them. All I’m finding with my (admittedly wimpy) Google searches are links to the ACA information for both states. Maybe the solution is for her to just call those ACA carriers and ask about OOS coverage.
Within ACA, she needs a low-deductible plan at least for that first month. I’ve also tried to convince her that maybe she should just go ahead and join her theater design union if it offers decent medical insurance. She’s dragged her heels on that so far. Maybe @thumper1 would have suggestions about that.
And Yup @RichInPitt Happykid has aged out of parental coverage.
My son had two months between insurances when he switched jobs (the company he left was small, so they didn’t have to offer COBRA). I just googled “short term health care plans for (our state).” There were a lot of options through the major carriers, and they were really inexpensive. They are not ACA compliant, so they have caps on coverage, but they will protect from huge medical bills in case of an accident or sudden illness.
Happymom- don’t you mean a high deductible plan?
And yes- she should absolutely check out the union plan. If she qualifies, it may not only be her best bet financially, but would provide continuity during moves down the road. And there are likely other benefits for union members which would help her-- there could be fantastic credit union/mortgage offers, life insurance/disability insurance for when she’s got dependents, etc.
Can she officially move to Maryland on Aug 1, even if she isn’t physically there? I’d look at Maryland plans and see what they require to get started - is it a lease, an offer of employment, just an address? She may not be able to go to a doctor or get a prescription filled OOS during those 2 weeks but should be covered in an emergency.
I don’t think Tennessee is an expanded medicaid state, but check on that. Usually medicaid is backdated to coverage on the date of application if it takes them a while to process.
Is her current TN plan BCBS? Do they have any short term insurance plans with whomever provides her plan at U to fill the gap? That’s what we got S when he aged off our policy and his U coverage ended. They said since he’s always had continuous coverage via BCBS (1st under family plan, then under U plan), he qualified.
It wasn’t cheap but gave us peace of mind from when his U plan ended in Aug until he was covered under family plan again 1/1 the next year. He never used benefits under it.
@happymomof1 my kid has a policy off the exchange. He has had this always as a freelancer.
@blossom - She needs a low-deductible for this one month period because I don’t want to have to lay out $5k or more to meet a deductible if she lands in the hospital that month. Whether her MD insurance for the remainder of 2021 should be high-deductible is a different issue. But I’m inclined to favor low-deductible for all of 2021. Her income is going to be so low for 2021 that I expect her to qualify for substantial ACA subsidy if not for expanded Medicaid.
@twoinanddone - Good idea there. I’ll check on the MD options and see what they say about that. Her move-home date is 8/12.
One of my kids lived in this state and had a medical emergency in April…and we had to pay the deductible. Kid moved OOS as of August that year…new insurance and PT hadn’t ended. Got to pay another deductible. And then in January it was another new ACA year so we got to pay a third deductible all for the same emergency.
We were thankful the kid had insurance !
The short term plans I found in our state had many choices. Obviously it costs more for a lower deductible, but they did offer them … and they weren’t all that expensive, IMO.
Update: Happykid called both the MD and TN help lines, and found out that she needed TN insurance for August as she would be a resident there at the start of that month, and then MD insurance starting in September. At some point she ended up calling United Health Care that has plans in both states and spoke with a helpful UHC agent in TN who found her a Silver plan that includes emergency & urgent care out of state with a decductible of $1000, and premium after discounts of about $8. She has this agent’s direct number and plans to call her again for the MD insurance once she’s back here.
Thanks for all of your good ideas everyone! <3
Just noticed a type in my post above. Kid has type 1 diabetes. Tried to get on Medi-Cal to supplement school insurance. United’s website and reps promised coverage for pump and CGM supplies but in reality, they threw up roadblocks at every turn over a month’s time. I ended up paying cash for supplies because her life depends on them and we couldn’t wait any longer.
Just for example, they said we needed two authorizations, and when we had two sent, they said two was too many and we needed to redo with one!
We are terrified of graduation when kid will be in the marketplace.