Health Insurance for Students...

[futurern123]

Hi, I was just wondering what everyone here does for health insurance (those that aren't on their parents' or spouses). After I turned 22 a few months ago I was taken off my parents insurance policy. For them to add me, it would have cost about $500/month, which is way out of my meager budget. So I signed up for the student health insurance (by Atena, it still wasn't cheap), which isn't so great-- they will not even pay for the yearly gyn exam or my asthma doctor visits (very seldom I go but I really need to)!!!

Until this year I was unaware of the realities of health insurance, it's really frightening. I was extremely naive about how expensive health care is. I have several friends who have no health insurance (sadly enough, this is in one of the top 5 richest counties in the US--how bad is it elsewhere?).

What does eveyone else do for health insurance while you're in nursing school? Could anyone recommend a decent plan-- maybe $300/month max?

The asthma thing is killing me!

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

This is probably a dumb question, but how do you find an insurance agent? And does it cost anything to talk to one?

Insurance agents are listed in the yellow pages. No charge to talk to one. When our daughter needed health insurance between graduation and her new job's insurance starting we used one available through State Farm. It was about $125 a month and only covered hospital expenses including ER. Nothing for routine visits or medications but we couldn't risk a hospitalization that would wipe us out. I think it paid 90% of in hospital and 50% of ER visit. Definately worth the peace of mind.

[MB37]

Unless you have to go to the doctor really frequently for your asthma, paying out of pocket is probably cheaper than paying on a policy. A lot of companies refuse to pay for any "preventive" care, which includes annual physicals as well as yearly gyno trips. Find your local planned parenthood for that, they're great. As for your asthma, look into any community health clinics or "walk-in" clinics and see if they will keep you up to date. You can also ask your current MD if he/she charges less for cash patients - many do. As far as anything horrible happening, the smart thing to do is to buy a catastrophic policy that only kicks in after thousands of dollars. They're relatively inexpensive. However, for the years I didn't have insurance, I never bothered with that either and went to the local public hospital ER the couple of times I hurt myself badly. They charged on a sliding scale, and if you brought in documentation that an injury/illness kept you out of work, your visits were free. Now, it took well over 12 hours to get seen, but when I had no money I dealt with it. I got married a year and a half ago, and DH's insurance covers everything - even birth control, which I didn't think anyone did - and vision, dental, everything. It's nice!

[time2fly]

I got on Medicaid. I know it's not an ideal situation, but when your a full time student, single mom with kids, you have to take the options given! You might want to look into it if you're low income while in school.