So in a year or so, I'm going to be done with college and won't be dependent on my parents anymore. This means (assuming my first job won't offer benefits right away, if ever) that I'm going to have to look into some sort of health insurance. Anyone here have any experience with shopping for this type of thing? Are there discounts I should look out for? I don't smoke, probably won't own a car (going to try and avoid it until I'm 25). I don't like the idea, that should I get hit by a bus and live, I'd be paying hundreds of thousands of hospital bills untill I'm 60.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Regarding Health Insurance
- Thread starter Drozmight
- Start date
- Status
Depending on your income, and given the fact that you are in a low-risk age bracket as well as the fact that you do not participate in any high-risk behaviors (smoking, driving etc.), you might want to opt for a higher deductible plan that will cost less monthly rather than vice-versa (i.e., low/no deductible, high monthly premium).
The insurance company would likely have one of the physicians in their network perform a physical on you so they can get a more thorough assessment of your general health as well as various risk factors that will aid them in setting their rates for you. That being said, a "high deductible" plan might be on the order of $1000-2000 out of pocket per year before the insurance kicks in, so if you need, say, an MRI, you'll likely have to pay for it in full (~$900); if that sounds unpalatable to you (or if you just wouldn't be able to afford it), then you'd likely have to opt for the higher monthly premiums and lower out-of-pocket deductibles. However, it all ultimately comes down to a cost-benefit analysis: whether you end up spending more "up front" under the deductible system, or over the course of time under the higher premium system, is for you to figure out based on your own health and financial situation.
Still, if you're in relatively good health and could afford to swallow an unexpected one-time cost (e.g. minor surgery or a few diagnostic tests), I'd say to try to find a higher-deductible plan within your financial constraints. It's what I'd do, since I generally get sick only once per year and it's usually just a head cold; perhaps you're like me, perhaps not, which is what you have to examine.
This is of course assuming that you won't have benefits at your eventual job, which is something you can't know at the moment. I'd say to see how the job hunt goes and what sort of benefit packages are being offered before you start freaking out over coverage-- at most, assuming you find a job relatively quickly, you'll only be uninsured for a small window of time during which nothing is likely to happen. Still, if you're that worried (or maybe your parents are worried that they'd foreclose on the house if you got laid up in the hospital, like mine were when I went w/o coverage for one year
), you can always just get a transitional plan for a few months until you see what's up on the job front. In that case, I'd advise that you opt for a "bare bones" plan, since you'd really only be concerned about the "major" expenses that would result in the event of a catastrophe; further, many of the more expensive plans tend to try to lock you in for a year or have you pay up front for the first 3-6 months, which, depending on your financial situation, you might want to avoid doing.
Hope this helps some. I'm sure others have more info, since I really only know the basics, and not much about specific companies' packages etc.
The insurance company would likely have one of the physicians in their network perform a physical on you so they can get a more thorough assessment of your general health as well as various risk factors that will aid them in setting their rates for you. That being said, a "high deductible" plan might be on the order of $1000-2000 out of pocket per year before the insurance kicks in, so if you need, say, an MRI, you'll likely have to pay for it in full (~$900); if that sounds unpalatable to you (or if you just wouldn't be able to afford it), then you'd likely have to opt for the higher monthly premiums and lower out-of-pocket deductibles. However, it all ultimately comes down to a cost-benefit analysis: whether you end up spending more "up front" under the deductible system, or over the course of time under the higher premium system, is for you to figure out based on your own health and financial situation.
Still, if you're in relatively good health and could afford to swallow an unexpected one-time cost (e.g. minor surgery or a few diagnostic tests), I'd say to try to find a higher-deductible plan within your financial constraints. It's what I'd do, since I generally get sick only once per year and it's usually just a head cold; perhaps you're like me, perhaps not, which is what you have to examine.
This is of course assuming that you won't have benefits at your eventual job, which is something you can't know at the moment. I'd say to see how the job hunt goes and what sort of benefit packages are being offered before you start freaking out over coverage-- at most, assuming you find a job relatively quickly, you'll only be uninsured for a small window of time during which nothing is likely to happen. Still, if you're that worried (or maybe your parents are worried that they'd foreclose on the house if you got laid up in the hospital, like mine were when I went w/o coverage for one year
), you can always just get a transitional plan for a few months until you see what's up on the job front. In that case, I'd advise that you opt for a "bare bones" plan, since you'd really only be concerned about the "major" expenses that would result in the event of a catastrophe; further, many of the more expensive plans tend to try to lock you in for a year or have you pay up front for the first 3-6 months, which, depending on your financial situation, you might want to avoid doing.Hope this helps some.
I'm sure others have more info, since I really only know the basics, and not much about specific companies' packages etc.Wow, thanks a lot for the info. Yeah, I figured I should probably start planning sooner rather than later, and do some shopping around in my free time.
The bare-bones high deductible plan seems more my style from what you've said. I've only had to go see a doctor once the whole of the three years I've been at university. Somehow I got a viral infection in both of my eyes, and I treasure my eye sight dearly.
In all likelyhood, I won't even need it for anything, but you never know. I might get robbed, stabbed and beaten in a dark alley somewhere, and left to die. I'll be discovered by a hobo who only calls for an ambulance after checking my pockets for cash.
Oh man, that'd be something to tell the grand kids about if I ever have any.
The bare-bones high deductible plan seems more my style from what you've said. I've only had to go see a doctor once the whole of the three years I've been at university. Somehow I got a viral infection in both of my eyes, and I treasure my eye sight dearly.
In all likelyhood, I won't even need it for anything, but you never know. I might get robbed, stabbed and beaten in a dark alley somewhere, and left to die. I'll be discovered by a hobo who only calls for an ambulance after checking my pockets for cash.
Oh man, that'd be something to tell the grand kids about if I ever have any.
Drozmight said:
Cool.
However, if you do decide to go with a high-deductible, low premium plan, make sure to read the fine print regarding what's covered as far as extended hospital stays, excessive costs etc.-- you don't want to get stuck with a plan that only pays 30% of the cost up to the first $10K, and then only 20% after that, because that would defeat the entire purpose of going with the higher deductible plan in the first place, which was to shield yourself in instances of catastrophe.
When I graduated college, I was taken off my mom's plan and I didn't want to pay for the coverage that my job offerred. Some months later my mom got to talking with some coworkers and found out that I could still be considered a dependent because I was living at home and she was still paying my main bills (rent, food, etc). So she called up the insurance company and got me reactivated on her policy. Might work for you.
Must be horrible living in a society with no public cover and having to rely on private health insurance. Imagine if you don't have any and suddenly need emergency heart surgery or something? What's the first thing you hear from the nurse when you wake up -
"Congratulations, the surgery was a success. Now when will you be paying us the $65,000?"
"Congratulations, the surgery was a success. Now when will you be paying us the $65,000?"
Yeah, I donno, privatized systems have their advantages. Then again, it sucks that a lot of people find themselves in that situation.
Maybe a cheap government-run health insurance plan could be offered strictly for those whose job don't provide it and flat out can't afford it. Maybe you could set it up like financial aid. After a hospital has fixed you up and presented you with the bill, you could apply for government aid to help pay.
Maybe a cheap government-run health insurance plan could be offered strictly for those whose job don't provide it and flat out can't afford it. Maybe you could set it up like financial aid. After a hospital has fixed you up and presented you with the bill, you could apply for government aid to help pay.
It isn't one or the other, there can certainly be private insurance in additional to public funded health cover in order to provide additional cover such as theatre fees in private hospitals. Not having any public health safety net at all though to protect individuals in the case of emergencies is something I'll never understand about American society, or the American people who don't lobby for it.
xabre said:
Socialized medicine is a joke riddled with troubling financial and ethical issues; Europe (and Canada) are starting to realize this as funds dwindle, the population ages, and human resources become scarce due to low compensation and high stress.
Should people have to remortgage their house to cover hospital bills? No.
Should people be denied necessary medical care due to an inability to pay? No.
Should people not have to pay, within reason, for medical services they've availed themselves of? No.
There are better ways to do things besides fully socialized medicine (even better than the British system you allude to, where one is allowed to seek private care with their own dollar; < 8% of patients do this, however); I, for one, am deeply troubled that there is absolutely no discussion happening as to what these more moderate and sensible systems might be-- people just seem content to go with one of three commonly proffered systems: The continuance of our current managed care paradigm (unsustainable and unethical; already bursting at the seams), socialized medicine (unsustainable, unethical for vastly different reasons), or strictly free-market medicine (inhumane).
There are better ways to do things, but, unfortunately, the search for them is not part of the national dialogue.
- Status