Healhtcare Insurance

[tinkerbell615]

You all usually have great ideas and suggestions whenever I have questions. This one us a little different for me, but I thought I would see if anyone could help. My DD will turn 26 in April and will no longer be covered on my husband's insurance. She has a full time job, but her employer does not offer health insurance. At some point she may change jobs, but has been with her employer over two years, and is happy with her job. She is now researching the best way to go to pick up her own insurance. Does anyone have suggestions on the best places for her to begin looking and researching? She has school loans to pay, and can't afford a huge monthly premium, but definitely needs some kind of health insurance. She would really like to look at as many options as possible. Thank you for any recommendations!

 

[TwoMisfits]

You all usually have great ideas and suggestions whenever I have questions. This one us a little different for me, but I thought I would see if anyone could help. My DD will turn 26 in April and will no longer be covered on my husband's insurance. She has a full time job, but her employer does not offer health insurance. At some point she may change jobs, but has been with her employer over two years, and is happy with her job. She is now researching the best way to go to pick up her own insurance. Does anyone have suggestions on the best places for her to begin looking and researching? She has school loans to pay, and can't afford a huge monthly premium, but definitely needs some kind of health insurance. She would really like to look at as many options as possible. Thank you for any recommendations!

Does she need regular medical scripts and services or would she be okay with a catastrophic plan?

 

[tinkerbell615]

She has had issues with kidney stones since she was about 17 years old, but is otherwise pretty healthy. I would just hate it if she couldn't go to the doctor if she ended up with stones.

 

[dclpluto]

Get married with a person that has health care coverage and their spouse is included.

 

[kymom99]

Truthfully many plans don't cover office visits other than well checks anyway. An office visit isn't that expensive. I would just get catastrophic for now and see what happens with her job. We had to do that when my husband lost his job because adding him to mine was ridiculous. He eventually got a job with his own insurance.

Let me just say this. Your daughter has years ahead of her where she may have children, etc. I would suggest she find another job with better benefits while she is young. My niece has done nothing but struggle because her employer doesn't provide insurance and her husband's family plan is outrageous. She has 2 children and is paying the bills for their births with a payment plan. Plus she has a child with food allergies and the testing has been an added financial burden that she is trying to pay. Liking your job is fine but young people don't realize how important benefits are.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Depending on her job (if this is salaried and professional), I would also encourage her to ask for a raise for this year. Then, she'll know if they appreciate her as much as she likes working for them. I'd find out what the lowest non-catastrophic level plan costs in full (since if she has kidney stone issues, catastrophics might not be the best call) and I would ask for that value in a raise, citing my 2 years of exemplary performance and contribution to the company, and my need to continue to keep myself healthy to continue to contribute to the company's success...that way, at least I'd know if this was a company worth working for long term, or if I should spend 2018 looking elsewhere...

 

[starry_solo]

She needs to find a job that offers health insurance. She can look on the exchange, but individual health plans are pretty expensive, even high deductible ones.

 

[bluehen]

Tough to say what next year will bring, but at this point I still believe you get subsidies after paying 10% of your income for health care.

 

[tvguy]

You all usually have great ideas and suggestions whenever I have questions. This one us a little different for me, but I thought I would see if anyone could help. My DD will turn 26 in April and will no longer be covered on my husband's insurance. She has a full time job, but her employer does not offer health insurance. At some point she may change jobs, but has been with her employer over two years, and is happy with her job. She is now researching the best way to go to pick up her own insurance. Does anyone have suggestions on the best places for her to begin looking and researching? She has school loans to pay, and can't afford a huge monthly premium, but definitely needs some kind of health insurance. She would really like to look at as many options as possible. Thank you for any recommendations!

First, under ACA she can stay on a parents insurance until December 31st of the year she turns 26. So she has until December 31st of this year to find another plan. My DD turns 27 in March and was on DW's plan until 2 weeks ago, but she also got a full time job with insurance. But we did do some looking, and for use, there were coverage options for her in the California Exchange, but not many that her current Doctor took.

 

[tinkerbell615]

First, under ACA she can stay on a parents insurance until December 31st of the year she turns 26. So she has until December 31st of this year to find another plan. My DD turns 27 in March and was on DW's plan until 2 weeks ago, but she also got a full time job with insurance. But we did do some looking, and for use, there were coverage options for her in the California Exchange, but not many that her current Doctor took.

Oh thank you. I did not realize she has until the end of the year. Gives just a little more time to look.

 

[tinkerbell615]

I do appreciate everyone's input. She knows how important healthcare is. That is why she has asked us to help her do some research. We have also discussed the possibilty of having to find employment that offers coverage. We are just hoping to help her make wise choices. We haven't had to do this before so knowing where to start is key.

 

[tvguy]

Oh thank you. I did not realize she has until the end of the year. Gives just a little more time to look.

Double check with your husband's benefits coordinator to make sure. But if your daughter was going to be dropped December 31, 2018, you should have been notified during open enrollment a few months ago.

 

[Eastern]

Oh thank you. I did not realize she has until the end of the year. Gives just a little more time to look.

First, under ACA she can stay on a parents insurance until December 31st of the year she turns 26. So she has until December 31st of this year to find another plan.

I would check on that. AFAIK they need to get their own insurance when they turn 26. Our dental plan covers my son til the end of the month that he turns 26, but my health insurance does not.

 

[starry_solo]

Double check with your husband's benefits coordinator to make sure. But if your daughter was going to be dropped December 31, 2018, you should have been notified during open enrollment a few months ago.

Possibly not, because when there is a change in circumstances, coverage can be dropped (or added) during other periods of time, not only during open enrollment.

https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Files/adult_child_faq.html

Look at Q13. The end of the calendar year in which the child turns 26 is for taxable income, not to keep the child on the coverage until the end of the calendar year.

 

[wdwfan51]

Good luck to you in finding answers for your DD. My only thought, and this may not get posted, is why does our nation not have universal healthcare like most nations? Lose your job due to an illness and you lose your insurance. Cobra coverage is great, if you have the money to pay for it, but without a job that is difficult. Illness should not financially devastate a family. Sorry for the rant.

 

[MolonLabe]

Healthy Young adults are in a bad place right now as they are forced to subsidize older and unhealthier people with their payments.

With the repeal of the individual mandate the good news is she won't get fined for not being able to afford insurance but she should still get some sort of catastrophic coverage. I'm honestly not sure if insurance companies can off that type of coverage again now that the mandate is gone. Up until last year they were prohibited and it's why my insurance was cancelled several years ago or "non compliant" as they called it.

Three options:

1- Pay an ungodly amount for a huge deductible.

2- Get into a medical sharing plan like MediShare if she is a Christian, others also exist for other faiths.

3- Take money that would have went to pay for those ungodly rates and bank it (possibly in a HSA if that makes sense for her, but understand the positives and negatives of one) so you can just pay out of pocket when/if the time comes. Also keep in mind that when paying cash you can negotiate rates with any doctors office manager if you pay cash on the spot when services are rendered.

It's crazy how many people pay tens of thousands of dollars a year in premiums to get a couple of "free" office visits. Do the math, add up how much it would cost a year between premiums and deductibles before you actually start to "break even" on most plans. In our families case we'd have had to have over $25,000 in medical bills for a year (premiums + deductibles + OOP) before we'd break even and insurance would actually start to 'kick in'. For us we went with Options 2 and 3 and have been since my insurance was cancelled under ObamaCare.

 

[MolonLabe]

Good luck to you in finding answers for your DD. My only thought, and this may not get posted, is why does our nation not have universal healthcare like most nations? Lose your job due to an illness and you lose your insurance. Cobra coverage is great, if you have the money to pay for it, but without a job that is difficult. Illness should not financially devastate a family. Sorry for the rant.

Americans want a higher quality of care, minimal to no wait times and lower taxes. Laws have prohibited citizens from buying insurance across state lines for decades and government has continued to pass laws that help insurance companies and hurt the people. Repealing the individual mandate was a good first step, it's time to let people buy their insurance from where ever they want. Also, slavery and conscription were outlawed in the USA back in the 1860's and healthcare isn't some faceless thing. Healthcare is people. The scalpel is useless without the surgeon, the hospital bed useless without the Nurse. The surgical suites, bathrooms, hallways filthy without the orderlies. People tend to forget that healthcare doesn't exist without human beings.

 

[tinkerbell615]

I have heard good things about #2. We will certainly look into that.

 

[twoolle]

We are self employed with 4 children and we use Medishare and love it. Low monthly premium but high deductible (7500 for the fam). We have a special savings account that keeps the 7500 and each year we pull from it as needed. In the next year we add it to our budget to fill it back to 7500.

 

[starry_solo]

For COBRA, she has 60 days from the date she loses coverage (on her 26th birthday) to choose to get this coverage. It is expensive, but I believe it is considered group coverage, rather than individual coverage.

I'm not sure what she earns in her current job, but if it's not a lot, she might be able to get your state's version of Medicaid coverage.