How To Get Health Insurance After College
Get a job with a big heartless corporation and have health and dental insurance cost you less than $65 a month.

Move to Europe?
I'm glad someone brought this up. We have one turning 18 next year. Off to go check our policy.

Here's a novel approach....

Put that college degree to work and GET A JOB!!!!!!

(Just remember to get one with health insurance)

Thank god my mother's company allowed her to extend her insurance policy to cover me up until age 25. I was on Cobra and it was EXPENSIVE and I never even needed it (thank god). However I honestly felt like just breaking my arm or something so I was getting my money's worth. Insurance is that horrible thing you hate paying for when it is rarely used but when you do need it thank god you have it (and then wait for the company to deny coverage...).

@HIV 2 Elway: Or join the military, which has its own network of veterinarians available to provide the best medical care you never had to pay for.

@chemmy: While getting a job is the smart thing to do, it's not always easy. Most of my friends took about 6 months after graduating to find a job because they weren't going into marketing or finance. I on the other hand decided to extend my education, and now I'm good to go until Dec 2009 because NH mandates coverage until age 26.

As important medical insurance is, dental is equally important....

@chemmy: Novel approach? Isn't that why the vast majority of college graduates spent at least four years of their lives at the university working their asses off, eating ramen noodles, and going up to their eyeballs in hock? Do you think HR managers just line up at graduates' front doors with job offers? News flash - it's not 1998 anymore.

Check and see if your professional association (e.g., the American Bar Association) has discounts on individual plans or even a group plan. And, even if you're not in the states listed above, look into what kind of coverage your state offers. For example, Missouri has some coverage available for high-risk people who have exhausted their COBRA coverage.

Let's vote in Obama! He wants to give us universal health care anyways.

Then by the time I graduate college, I won't have to get a soul-sucking job in a cubicle.

@Motherfirefly:
Correct!

The rest of us who work get to pay for your health care!

@Steaming Pile: Thank you, it is SO hard to get a job even as a college graduate right now. The job market is so stagnant and I'm competing with tens of thousands of people with the same piece of paper I have. I'd love to have the luxury of being able to choose my career as opposed to grasping at any pathetic job offer that has come my way.

Health Savings Account - Along with a high deductible policy- If you are young and strong and have no health issues,it's a great way to beat the system.

Listen up,people - Young,healthy people sudsidize the costs of 45 year old obese, chain smokers who have unprotected sex with Haitians while skydiving.Face it, any health care visits that you make while unmarried and childless are probably just maintenence anyway.Put that $$ in a Health Savings Account and keep it for yourself instead of giving it to the insurance company to play around with. You can get a policy that covers BIG things (that is what insurance is really for)for $110 a month where I live from Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

But no. Most people don't want to buy INSURANCE. They want what amounts to a healthcare payment scheme where every little look-see is covered down to the last $5.It costs way more than $5 to see a doctor.How do you think that the insurance company can guarantee an office visit for $5 ? Right- By charging you a ton up front (and taking premiums from people that NEVER go to the Dr.)and then if you use it,raising the premium next time your contract is renewed.

Look before you leap... HSA/High Deductible insurance is just what it says it is.You see a doctor for a nagging headache,you will pay for an office visit.(But you can pay for it out of the HSA by putting money in there when you are not sick). Stay healthy and you keep the money to roll around in nekkid. Don't sign up if you are about to carry a child. Don't sign up if you have numerous health issues.

My daughter did this 5 years ago and has amassed over $6000 of her own money in her HSA. That is money that did not go to Blue Cross. It's hers. When she goes to the Dr.,she swipes her VISA HSA debit card to pay and calls it a day. No forms,no turndowns. If she should have something really bad happen,after her $3000 deductible, she is covered,so hospitals won't turn her away.If she wins the health lottery and stays healthy, she can use the money in retiremet for Mai Tais and high stakes bingo games.All in all,a great deal for young,healthy folks.

Oh no, here comes the "You're a dirty socialist," "You're a heartless Republican," banter.

@Steaming Pile: So what's your solution? To put your hands in the air and give up? It's not hard for a recent grad to find a solid job with good benifits if they're qualified and diligent.

If you major in something besides Underwater Basket Weaving, you ought to be able to find a job with health benefits. And here's another novel idea, search for jobs and interviews BEFORE you actually graduate.

@Murph1908:

Maybe I'm idealistic, but everyone should have health care whether they have a job or not. Stop talking down to people. I have a job (with the government even) and have worked since I was 16. I have a college education and my current employer doesn't offer health benefits to its IT staff.

@Steaming Pile: Doesn't starbucks give health insurance to full time employees? I think Whole Foods does too along with a nice discount on food. I bet there are other dead ends that offer the same if worse come to worse.

@Murph1908: People only care until it helps one of their own, oh the selfishness that we have become, welcome to America.

@Murph1908: I was just trying to be the snarky college kid! I didn't mean to offend. I'm working in Advertising -- so my job is going to eventually suck the life out of me anyways, and possibly cause me to burst an artery.

@Pizza_Club: I agree, I have been working since I was 16 and although I've had full time jobs and internships I still have to pay premiums to get health insurance through my school. Who knows what kind of benefit packages I'm going to be looking at once I graduate.

After college, get a job. Versus coming onto consumerist w/ your socialist ideas. Get a job, then come here with your conservative ideas :)

@HIV 2 Elway: I'm flabbergasted. I can't possibly understand how this is happening. I started interviewing DURING college. I graduated on a saturday, and started my first job on Monday. How worthless are these people?

After I graduated from college in 2005, it took me over a year to land a full-time job with benefits (internships and freelance gigs don't come with healthcare). I have a million and one health problems, but I was able to get most of them taken care of through a program in San Mateo County (next to San Francisco) called the Well Program.

It's for lower-income folks (hello, recent graduates!) who don't qualify for Medicaid or Medical or whatever. I paid $250 bucks upfront, but after that, there is basic care and prescriptions for a relatively small co-pay ($40 for an ER visit, $10 for prescriptions, all the way up to major surgery). It was a bitch getting non-emergency appointments, but it was a huge relief knowing I wouldn't bankrupt myself if I broke a leg or something. I hope other counties across the nation have similar programs.

@Motherfirefly: All jobs suck the life out of you, that's why they have to pay you and not vice-versa. So long as you can leave work and work and have hobbies that make you forget about your job (ie. binge drinking) it's not so bad.

@Bladefist: It's hardly socialist. Japan, Germany, Switzerland, and England are all capitalist countries with a strong economic standing. A lot of them enforce capitalist ideals to reinforce competition between the companies. Consumerist actually posted the story a couple of weeks ago. The documentary is streaming, I recommend watching it.

[consumerist.com]

Also, I've been working my summers and doing part time internships while in classes (I actually start mine with Consumerist next week). I still plan on attending Graduate school once I finish my undergraduate degree. My generation is hardly worthless.

@Steaming Pile: You're totally right, it isn't 1998 anymore, and the job market isn't at all what it used to be. Besides, college graduates are entering the job market in higher and higher numbers each year. There's enough of an issue with conflicts in the workplace with boomers, and a ton of the naive ones are doing that whole "follow my dreams" spiel.

@Bladefist: It took me a few months to accept a job after graduating. I have to say, health insurance wasn't a high priority at the time. Getting a paycheck was.

@Motherfirefly: Yu can advance your career and pay faster if you work and go to grad school at the same time (assuming you're going for an MBA). My MBA cost me nothing and the promotions came fast and frequent as I apply what I learned everyday in the office. People with advanced business degrees without business experience have a serious lack of credibility.

@Motherfirefly: I would be okay with ONE year of Medicare to college graduates. See, I do have a compassionate side!

Congrats on the internship.

I don't know what generation you are. I graduated college 2 years ago, and I still have 2 brothers who are in college, close to graduating, and they are worthless. My friends who graduated with me, are mixed. Some worthless, some not.

I know that about 6 months prior to graduating, all I could think about was buying a nice car, a house, throwing away money at the bars, and I was just extremely motivated to get out there. I mean you had to hold me back. Companies were telling me to come back after I graduated.

I also understand I am a bit lucky, I am in a field where it is easier to find jobs. But my attitude was always in the right place.

Something else to remember is that some jobs offer health insurance but it is so crappy it is essentially useless.

@bohemian: And I've experienced that as well. 350$/mo insurance. The important thing is, you're getting paid, so you can afford it. You may have to drive a Pinto, but that's life in the big city.

@Bladefist: not all of us are so lucky to get a job with health insurance benefits. I've accepted that being a field biologist and environmental educator probably means that I'll have to pay for my own health insurance myself, but I far prefer my job to working in an office.

For the record, I've held many jobs in the 3 years since I've graduated college, and I only had health insurance at one job (thankfully, the one that I worked for two years -- teaching at a university while getting my master's degree).

When I don't have employer-provided health insurance, I just turn to ehealthinsurance.com, review my coverage options, and pick a plan that works for me. So far, this has served me well *knock on wood.*

@Leah: Yes. I had some friends who got private insurance on their own. It actually can be affordable.

I never graduated college, and I've held a job for the past 5 years that gives me health+dental for right around $100/month. Good thing I don't have a degree, apparently I'd never have found it.
And no, it's not Starbucks.

@Bladefist: It's not affordable at all if you have any relatively serious preexisting medical condition. Those of who do, are screwed without group coverage through an employer. Are you aware that there are people who pay like $7,000 per month for individual health insurance (these are usually people who have had cancer or something like that)?

I am still in college and am having a bitch of a time finding health insurance I can afford. My mother has no insurance of her own, so I can't be carried on hers. I used to have Medicaid, I was dropped when I turned 21. So now I'm trying to find a plan I can afford on the approx $350 a month I make at my work-study job, which I also use to pay my bills and eat off of. Fun times.

@johnva: There are exceptions to everything. Are you aware that there are people who pay like $60 a month for health insurance? You can't base things statistical outliers.

@HIV 2 Elway: The problem is that what you call "statistical outliers" are people, first off. They shouldn't be written off by society just because they got sick, and that's essentially what happens if they can't get on a group plan (and it can be hard to get/keep a corporate-type job that offers those kind of benefits when you're going through cancer treatment or something like that). Second off, it's not just "exceptions". Individual insurers basically don't want anyone who has anything known to be wrong with them as a customer. Almost everyone will have at least some history of health problems in their medical records by the time they are 30-35 or so. I'm only 26 and I am already uninsurable at any price in the individual health insurance market because I have a non-life-threatening genetic disease, even if I sign an exclusion disclaiming their liability for that condition. So I guess I'm stuck with corporate jobs for life.

I should add more explicitly that one of the worst aspects of our medical system in this country is that if you have something serious or chronically wrong with you, you need a job with good benefits to get insurance. But if you are really sick, it's really hard to get or keep that kind of job. It's a nasty Catch-22 situation that a lot of people don't understand unless it happens to them.

@johnva: And that's without even getting into what happens to all the people without college educations and whatnot who have trouble even getting any job that offers group health insurance. I suspect that group is the largest part of the 47 million uninsured in this country.

@Bladefist: Individual policies are ALWAYS less affordable than a group policy. If you do get any, you also have to put up with tougher entry restrictions (like having perfect health and being young).

@johnva: I think you misinterpret the stance of a lot of conservatives. I think we spend so much time drilling the point AGAINST UHC, that you think we are 100% okay with our current health care situation.

I can't speak for all conservatives, but I am for some reform as well. Tort Reform and things such as that to reduce costs would be a start. I am younger then you, and have a non-life-threatening illness as well, and when it comes to my next job, I'll have a pre-existing condition that will make things very complex and expensive.

I am looking for answers to solve that. I don't think it's right that these private insurers can all collectively refuse to insure you. I don't have any answers. But I know Government UHC is NOT the answer. Because they will do it wrong, and use it as a form of wealth redistribution.

I don't want that. I want you to get the services you need. But I don't want to pay for it. So reform that could make us both happy is what is needed.

If you're good at what you do, its not hard to stay employed. Our secretary went through chemo last fall. Sure we could have replaced her but she was a very valuable asset to our group so we cut her some slack and let her take her time and ease back into work.

Make any decisions or policy, either public or in business, based on statistical outliers is irresponsible. In any situation it's impossible to please or accommodate everyone, that's just the way it is.

@Snarkysnake: You took the words out of my mouth. As you said, people look at the prices of what you'd expect to get from an employer (low deductible, cheap or free office visits) and freak at the price and complain that health insurance is "unaffordable".

@johnva: I had a friend in high school who got crushed in a hit and run accident. 3 months in an intensive care unit. Reconstructed legs, and steel plate in his spine. I can say for sure NOBODY wants to insure him on his own (and sadly...it's not his fault. You have to get mad at a system when we as a society screw accident victims like that).

@johnva: Also, as people who both have conditions, we need to realize it's going to be more expensive to exist. We pulled the short straw. We have to deal with it. I deal with it. I remain positive and seek private answers. Conservatives aren't a group of people who all have peachy lives. We just remain positive and want to be self sufficient in fixing our problems.

@ironchef: I agree, but that's life. Health Insurance should be paid right after mortgage/rent. Before car payment. If you do it that way, you can afford it.

@Bladefist: Thanks to a kick ass girl friend and a tunned piano, I have a pretty peachy life. Then again, life in KC has always been good.

@HIV 2 Elway: tuned piano, jackass.

I haven't investigated yet, but the Freelancers Union apparently offers group-rate health insurance in certain places around the country.

I can empathize with those college graduates who are having difficulty either finding a job or finding one with health insurance. In my industry, many full-time jobs with benefits have been cut. Companies instead rely on modestly-paid contractors or freelancers (or unpaid interns, in the case of some unscrupulous companies) so they don't have to offer any benefits. It might be a prudent business decision but it's not so good for those writers, editors, illustrators, photographers, etc., who want to make a secure living.

@HIV 2 Elway: What do you do for a living?

@Bladefist: I know you guys want reform, and I'm glad you can recognize that the status quo situation is not working for a lot of people. All I ask is that you look at all the economic studies and such that are out there about things like HSA plans, single-payer, individual health insurance, etc before you go to an ideologically-driven stance. I think we can all recognize that health care reform is an enormously complex issue, and that there are no easy answers: now. I actually used to agree with your position in large part, until I looked at the actual facts and analysis experts have already done in detail.

@Bladefist: I understand that in this country I will be expected to pay more for my healthcare through no fault of my own, and I accept that. In fact, I already do pay more out of pocket than most people do, even on a good group plan through my employer. But something is wrong when I can't get individual health insurance at any price, even if I don't ask them to pay for the condition I already have. This is part of why I have a huge problem with treating people as statistics. Some actuary somewhere has probably determined that if you have one preexisting condition that you're more likely to have more, so they just refuse you coverage rather than deal with you. They don't care about you as an individual at all; they're just going by aggregate cost savings.

An interesting essay written by a doctor appeared in the Times yesterday. One doctor he talked to said the following:

I'd write a prescription ... and then insurance companies would put restrictions on almost every medication. ... If I ordered an M.R.I., I'd have to explain to a clerk why I wanted to do the test. ... Managed care is like a magnet attached to you. Thirty percent of my hospital admissions are being denied. There's a 45-day limit on the appeal. You don't bill in time, you lose everything. You're discussing this with a managed-care rep on the phone and you think: "You're sitting there, I'm sitting here. How do you know anything about this patient?"

Pretty sobering, when you find out what the doctors have to put up with when they deal with patients' insurance.