Several people have asked me for some tips on how to find health insurance. I didn’t mean to scare anyone, but if my intense pain reminds someone to get insurance, at least something good came out of it! I did do some searching myself last year - the good news is that if you are young and in good health, you can get some high-deductible insurance for around $100 a month. The deductibles may still reach in the thousands, but $5,000 would be the least of your worries if you had just one serious incident. A reader got billed $3,075 for each CT scan taken!
Full-time Students
If your parents have family health insurance, you can usually remain covered under their plan until age 23 as long as you are a full-time student. For some states the age limit is even higher now. I know I did this as long as I could.
Otherwise, many universities will offer their own insurance package at a reduced cost. I knew someone over 40 who took a few units of community college every semester solely to qualify for the school’s cheap health coverage because it was cheap and took everyone regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. In my experience the quality of the plans varies wildly though, so I’d call around and compare first before signing up for rocks for jocks. I wonder if any online colleges are part of an affordable group plan?
Plans For Young Adults
A popular comparison site for health insurance is HealthCoverageQuotes.com. I like it because they list a lot of the major insurers like Blue Cross Blue Shield, and you don’t have to give them your name or other personal information before seeing the plan’s specifics like monthly premium, deductible, and coinsurance percentage. They do require birth date and zip code. The quotes are usually for those in good health, so if you have pre-existing health problems the actual cost will be higher.
Another option to check out for those in CA, CO, GA, CT, NH, and NV is Tonik Health. It’s specifically for young hip folks (could they make the website any more tacky?), and they have plans starting from about $75 a month.
In certain states like Massachusetts, there may be special programs available directly from the state targeting young adults.
Tonik/health insurance
Frankly, Tonik looks like a load of crap. For the most part what it means is that I'm only going to get 4 doctor visits a year, and they must be preventative, meaning I can't have a problem already and go see a doctor. What about specialists? I found nothing on the page referring to their procedures for people who must go see specialists about specific problems. In a typical year, I usually get strep throat or something similar, bronchitus (once a year, most definately), have a routine ob-gyn check-up, and more. That alone is 4 visits, what if I sprain my ankle or something that isn't quite catastrophic, but still a huge pain in the butt? What if I need tests done? I just keep paying over-the-top prices until eventually it reaches thousands of dollars and my health insurance magically decides to start functioning as it should? I'm basically screwed, considering I am still young and have a full-time job that doesn't pay that much even though yes, I did graduate college with good grades. My job right now barely covers the cost of living, yet alone health insurance and doctor's visits. Once again, Tonik appears to fail in every way that most "affordable" health insurance plans do, simply by not providing for their customers.
Very very helpful. Thanks.
Very very helpful. Thanks.
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