Health care cut-off

With the pressures of finding a job, figuring out where to live and deciding whether or not to attend graduate school looms ahead, many seniors will soon be faced with an added challenge -- finding their own health insurance.\nA March 28 Baltimore Sun article reported young adults -- those between the ages of 18 and 24 -- are the least likely of any age group to have medical coverage, and only about one in four were covered according to the 2000 U.S. Census.\nJeanette Schuler of The Insurance Centre in Bloomington attributes this lack of coverage to the high costs of medical plans. She said the cost of health insurance is not cheap, which may deter many young people from buying a policy.\n"I think at that age, (young adults) don't think anything bad is going to happen to them," she said. \nAfter graduation from college, students are typically no longer covered through their parents' insurance plans, though the time at which coverage stops varies.\nMark Duling, a life health agent at Bloomington Insurance Agency, said most students are dropped from their parents' insurance policies after graduation.\n"On average, upon graduating from school, students (are) no longer considered dependents, but it can vary from company to company," he said. "If someone is on their parents' policy, they should be looking to have their own coverage by the time they graduate."\nDuling said though some health care providers will notify parents before their children are removed from the plan, not every company runs the same way.\n"Some will give notice, but that is something that most people should be conscious about and be prepared for," he said. "It's an important issue to be careful of."\nStudents who attend college are usually allowed to stay on their parents' insurance policies until they reach the age of 22 or 23, though the exact age and time can vary, Duling said. \nDuling said there is usually a provision in the policy that stipulates whether children will be insured or not.\nSarah Dickey is one senior who has already put in some thought about health insurance and has plans for next year. \n"I'm going to med school and they offer insurance plans there," she said. "But next year it will only last nine months (the school year), so it will be hard to be three months without a health policy."\nDickey's insurance plan, which is offered through her school, costs $1,475 for nine months.\nDuling said it is hard to peg a price for the average cost of health insurance for a 22-year-old because so many factors are considered.\n"There are so many variables," Duling said. "It depends on the deductibles, but (you will) generally see for a 22-year-old in good health, who is a nonsmoker with a medium to average-sized deductible around $80 to $100 per month, but lots of variable that can change that, for better or worse."\nDickey said she plans on continuing with the health care offered to her through the medical school plan for the next few years. She also said she considers herself lucky because she will not turn 22, and thus be uninsured, until the end of the summer, right as she begins medical school.\n"So many people are not going to have insurance," she said. "A lot of my friends aren't going to have insurance because they can't afford it."\nDickey said though she is now covered under her parents' plan, she still tries to avoid doctor visits because of the high costs.\n"I'm currently on my parents' plan, but I never go to the doctor. It's too expensive, so I never utilize it," she said.\nSchuler said most graduating students are going to eventually get insurance through their employer, so she recommends a short-term policy to cover health care while the student is in the job-search process.\n"For a short-term (policy), most companies have similar things," she said. "You want to stay with a company that has an excellent rating by A.M. Best." A.M. Best is an organization rating insurance companies based on "a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a company's balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile," according to the organization's Web site. \nShort-term medical insurance is defined as "major medical coverage designed for persons in need of individual health insurance for a short period of time, typically up to six months," on the Insurance Centre's Web site (www.inscen.com). "Since the insurance company has only a short term obligation to you, these policies are very affordable, up to about half the price of a permanent policy" it said. The site says these policies are typically best for students graduating from college in search of their first "real" job, those who are between jobs or laid off and those who are waiting for group coverage or Medicare to begin.\nSchuler said short-term insurance policies can vary, but most have deductibles of $250 to $2,500, which can be affordable to newly-graduated students.\n"These short-term policies are relatively inexpensive. If you do get a big medical bill (and don't have insurance), you'll spend many years paying for it," she said. "(The temporary health plan) will be worth it."\n-- Contact assistant copy chief Brittany Hite at bhite@indiana.edu.