Medical Insurance Options for Teens

[rduell]

Our oldest daughter, just turned 19, will be taking the fall semester of college off while she works to save some money to return to school in January. I believe that this means she will not be covered under DH's medical insurance during that time. What are some low-cost options for those 4 months? Anyone have any experience in this area?

I can add her to my health insurance but have to pay the full amount. I'm working on finding out how much this will be.

[sweeps]

You could shop the online brokers (eHealthInsurance, InsureMe, NetQuote) for short-term health insurance policies.

[Daylily]

Find out the exact rules for dependent coverage from your DH's employer ASAP. Is it possible that she is covered through the end of the year even if she is not a full time student?

Further, what is DH's employer's policy regarding number of credit hours? Is it possible for her to go to classes part time and still get benefits?

If that doesn't work out, find out the price of getting her on your policy versus the price of taking COBRA through DH's policy.

Lastly, is it possible for her to get coverage through the employment that she will have this fall?

[JanH]

I agree to check and see how many months in a year she has to be a full time student in order to qualify. She may have already met the requirements for this year. Good luck!

[disneysteve]

There is an article on getting individual coverage in this month's issue of Kiplinger's magazine. Check it at your local library or bookstore.

[JanH]

I would also check with your DH's HR department at work. We called the insurance company for the three months that DS was out of school, but not on his wife's insurance yet. They told us we had to buy individual insurance from somewhere which we did. (they were not able to give us advice where--we got it through the college graduation program) Later on, we were reading some insurance information and they indicated that he was covered for a period of time after graduation which would have saved us a ton of money. We never followed up on it because it was a moot point for us by then. I didn't know why the insurance people didn't know about it. So next time, I will also call the HR people to clarify just what we do have in benefits. Then recheck with the insurance company to make sure we are all on the same page.
Of course, this situation is different, but the HR department might be able to shed some light on things.