Question about Health Insurance?

[Bush was AWOL]

I was covered last quarter at the university I attend because I was full time student and had purchased the student health insurance plan. Well, this quarter I'm a part time student and part time worker and I'm not covered by either. I was just wondering if anybody knew of a site or # you could refer me to in regards to affordable health insurance.

Thanks in advance

[ewagner]

1. Fortis and John Alden

offer temporary insurance for students.........

I'm sure there are others.......contact a REPUTABLE agent in your area.

[will work 4 food]

2. affordable health insurance.

Truly and oxymoron if there ever was one. Unless you are the perfect specimen, it does not exist.

[XanaDUer]

3. Try...

http://www.healthinsurance.com/


It's a clearinghouse on info on health insurance. Always check the A.M. Best's rating.

[Ravenseye]

4. Be Carefull When You Buy Insurance!!!

Something I learned recently is that there are LOTS of caveats, tricks, things to look out for, when buying insurance.

If you're not currently covered at all, and you go to just outright get new insurance, you will most likely get a preexisting conditions clause. Anything that has already existed, asthma, allergies, knee problems, whatever...won't be covered for a year (sometimes more). If you're a woman and you are pregnant, your maternity won't be covered, etc.

The f'ed up part is that if you were to go get a job that had group coverage, you wouldn't have to worry about preexisting conditions, at all. You'd immediately be covered.

So just be carefull. If you're not getting the insurance through a group, and have to get it on your own, look out for stuff like that.

I personally think that if everyone in this country had to personally deal with the insurance companies themselves (not any HR person at work, but them personally) and then in addtion everyone had to move from one state to another...we'd have universal coverage within a year. Most people have no idea the complete horror it is dealing with insurance companies, polcies, coverage etc.

[Bush was AWOL]

6. Do you suggest the short term or long term plan

I was thinking Short term in case I don't like it. Thanks for the advice.

[Ravenseye]

8. Need More Info

I'd need more information on the plans you're looking at in order to give you a good answer. There are so many catches, snags, tricks, and whatnot to avoid I dont' know.

Feel free to provide more information via sending me a private message if you'd like and I'll do what I can to help you.

*Just a note - in case it isn't obvious, I'm not an HR person, and I don't work for an insurance company. I'm just some poor schlub who owns his own business and has had to deal with this stuff intimately the past couple of years.*

[Bush was AWOL]

9. Thanks! I sent you a pm.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

7. Also, if you are a woman...

Many states in this country do not have an equity in health insurance law that requires health insurance companies to cover the cost of prescription contraceptives and/or the diagnosis & treatment of complications that arise from the use prescription contraceptives.
I was outraged to find this out when I started looking for individual health insurance plans. There needs to be a federal law on this issue I think.

Think about what you want health insurance for. I had to get individual coverage for myself and my two year old son because we couldn't afford my husband's group plan through his work (he is a public school teacher btw). I'm a pretty healthy person, as is everyone else in my family. I decided on getting a plan for just emergency hospitalization. I figured we would never go to the doctor or get enough prescriptions to make the traditional ppo plan worth it. There are a lot of doctors offices that do sliding scale billing based on your income. Often it is more affordable to just pay the doctor's bill outright, than it is to buy the individual insurance (if you are the type of person who does not need to visit a doctor very often).

If you do have a medical condition, they probably won't even insure you. I got denied because of one bad pap test (and I don't have cervical cancer). I had to prove that I had had two good pap test results that were at least 3 months apart since then to get the insurance. This turned out to be a major pain because one of the doctor's offices I went to messed up their medical records on me. It took four months after applying before I finally got accepted.

BTW, my plan is though Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.

[molly]

5. I'm looking into health insurance also

there are a couple of good ones on the web. Try this one

http://www.shplans.com