# Medical insurance question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-insurance-question/305632>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 26, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-insurance-question/305632 "2005-05-26T17:49:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-insurance-question/305632/1 "2005-05-26T17:49:45Z")

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I’m not sure if this is the correct forum or not, but my son, who is graduating college imminently will need health insurance. I can COBRA him with my existing family policy, but am really looking for some cheap catastrophic type insurance, with maybe like a 1000 deductible. Where should I look for such an instrument?

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-insurance-question/305632/2 "2005-05-26T19:00:27Z")

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There’s alot of options around now. COBRA is nice but EXPENSIVE.

Look to see if any of your local big insurers have a single policy plan. When I quit my dad’s COBRA I used SuperMedOne from Medical Mutual of Ohio. This is available in Ohio and Indiana.

I also had the option of getting insurance through my family’s home/auto insurer, State Farm.

Any insurance you choose will be frustrating to figure out, and might be expensive because of the non-group rate they charge. I was glad to find SuperMedOne but more glad now that I am finally getting a real group policy through work. Much better coverage.

Good luck!

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**Author:** ![Anvil\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cab0a1/32.png) [@Anvil\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anvil_Soup)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-insurance-question/305632/3 "2005-05-26T20:19:20Z")

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> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> COBRA is nice but EXPENSIVE.

COBRA restricts plan administrators to a very small markup (I believe 2%) on the premium. If the existing plan is expensive, then a COBRA extension will be expensive, but not because it’s issued under COBRA.

Finding high-deductible catastrophic medical insurance for a healthy young adult should actually be fairly straightforward. Note that some states (e.g., NY, NJ) have guaranteed-issue laws, meaning you could well encounter limited options and high premiums.

A good place to start, if you don’t want to talk to a broker, is your state’s insurance commission. A list of links is [here](http://www.naic.org/state_contacts/sid_websites.htm).

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**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-insurance-question/305632/4 "2005-05-26T20:51:26Z")

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The carrier with which you are now insured probably offers individual plans. They might have one with a high deductible.