My daughter, 21, is graduating from college in NY state in the spring. She has been covered by our medical insurance. As I understand it, she will NOT be covered as long as she is not a student. She is planning to take a year off and then go to graduate school. We are planning to discuss all this with the insurance company, but I was just wondering if any of you have experienced this and would tell me what you did for insurance coverage at the time.
Did you just do without insurance for that year and just pay cash to a doctor or dentist as needed? Did you get some kind of temporary insurance to cover you in case of accident or serious illness. And, did you get re-covered by your parents’ insurance when you did go back to school?
Most health insurance companies will not insure a child once that child has a) completed his or her bachelor’s degree, or b) reached the age of 23.
Your daughter may be able to obtain a short-term health insurance policy that is intended for situations such as these. They’re relatively inexpensive, especially at her age, so this may be a good option. Once she starts grad school, she will probably have access to insurance through the university she attends.
Most full-service insurance brokers can help you with this.
I am an insurance agent, but I am not your insurance agent. Talk to your agent for specifics.
That being said, she will be eligible for COBRA if you want to pay for that so that she has coverage, or she can do what I did and get a temporary emergency only policy that will cover her if she needs emergency care but won’t pay for check ups or other routine care.
Some universities will allow students on the school health insurance to continue coverage after graduation for a limited amount of time, but I would assume they have to be on school insurance to begin with, which is not the case here. Regardless, maybe worth looking up on the school website, maybe there’s a loophole. My undergrad univ. offers short-term insurance for recent graduates through the alumni association, so that’s another place to look at for info. This was 10 years ago, but a friend of mine went from her parents insurance to whatever was offered by the alumni association without problems.
I had short-term high-deductible insurance for a few months in 2005, independent of any school or group discount. I believe the site I shopped at was ehealthinsurance.com. But at the time it wasn’t available in all states.
I graduated last May. My parents’ graduation present to me was keeping me on their insurance using COBRA for the summer while I ran around enjoying my new freedom from school (woo hoo!). I started working in September and now get health insurance through my job.
Some of my friends were able to stay on their parents insurance at normal rates until September, so you should check to see when your daughter’s coverage actually ends.
In New York, individuals with income less than $10,400/yr qualify for state insurance called HealthPlus
For “girl stuff” (annual gyn exams, birth control) Planned Parenthood charges on a sliding scale for the uninsured and offers excellent care.
In my experience, basic individual insurance is cheaper than COBRA. You can get what I like to call “don’t-get-hit-by-a-bus” insurance (basically covers catastrophic injury/hospitalization, but not basic stuff) for not very much money.
(I actually had quite nice individual insurance, including dental, for $144/mo in Virginia, through Anthem blueCross/BlueShield. Individual insurance may be less than you think).
Before you do anything, find out for sure what your current health plan’s policies are. Some drop children on the first of the month following graduation, others do it on their next birthday, and others may have some other grace period. Armed with this information, you can make a reasoned choice and not have to worry about a gap in coverage.
My daughter graduated in December of '08, so she came off of my family plan. I went ahead and enrolled her in individual insurance with my same insurer; a medical policy and a dental policy. Together they are about $180 per month, but it is high deductible.
After I finished graduate school my job during the first few years did not include insurance. I got an individual plan through BCBS that ended up being cheaper than being added to my wife’s group plan for about the same coverage.