Insuring your Graduate

We’re approaching graduation season, and many folks are going to soon need to figure out a health insurance solution for their graduate, who may no longer qualify to be insured on Mom and Dad’s health plan. What do you do? A little planning ahead now will help you avoid a worrisome distraction graduation weekend. Here are a few ideas and suggestions:

* If your grad is healthy, get an individual health insurance plan. In fact, go ahead and do it now rather than waiting until May. A healthy individual under 30 can get individual health insurance that is very affordable (especially a guy because 20-something guys just don’t utilize healthcare). Obviously, you’ll save even more money by taking a high deductible plan. The application should take 15 minutes or less. Of course, we’ll be happy to get you started with some quotes.

One additional point here: Your grad can cancel his individual health policy at anytime. So when he gets that great job and those great benefits go into effect (usually after 90 days), then you just cancel the individual policy with no penalty.

* Consider short-term health insurance. A short-term health plan is typically in force for a defined period of time (usually up to 6 months) and provides catastrophic coverage only (no copays and such, but how often does your 23-year-old go to the doc in 6 months?). It is designed to bridge the gap between health insurance plans – such as the time between getting dropped by Mom and Dad’s plan and getting covered on the plan at your new employer. If your grad has a job lined up but will have to wait the usual 90 days or so for health insurance to kick in, this is the best way to bridge the gap. And it’s really cheap. Check it out here.

Don’t let your grad go without health insurance coverage. And save yourself the headache the comes with waiting until the last minute to get it. Contact AC Forrest today.