Health Insurance for an unemployed recent college graduate.

July 1, 2009 6:29 PM

What should a recent (unemployed) college graduate do to get health insurance in Indiana? `

I need some desperate help. I just graduated from college, but am now officially uninsured. My parents' plan covered me only until I was a student in college. After that, I'm all on my own. I have tried to get prior insurance but none have given it to me. What I need is some advice on where I can go to get insurance in Indiana for someone like myself, unemployed, living at home, without any money to my name. Does anybody know if I even qualify for medicaid in Indiana? What should I do?

And oh yeah, my parent's COBRA plan is simply too expensive to afford. It would wind up costing something like 300 dollars per month alone. Simply unfeasible. any advice is welcome.

posted by leybman to work & money (17 comments total)

I live in MI and have Blue Cross Blue Shield. It looks like Anthem is the BCBS provider in IN.
posted by axiom at 6:38 PM on July 1

Have you looked into the Healthy Indiana Plan?
posted by Nedroid at 6:38 PM on July 1

This article has some suggestions: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/triage/2009/06/health-insurance-options-for-college-grads.html

Maybe you can try to look into a temporary insurance plan with a company like Blue Cross Blue Shield, if they will cover your state?

And keep looking for a job of course, but I know that can take a while, especially with today's economy. Good luck!
posted by starpoint at 6:41 PM on July 1

Get a gov't job.
posted by Lukenlogs at 6:47 PM on July 1

The cobra rate of $300 per month is an excellent price for insurance. And cobra can't be cancelled by the insurance company. Even though it does seem expensive, that's probably going to be a good deal.
posted by raisingsand at 6:52 PM on July 1

Check out ehealth.com for many different options and different prices.
posted by Flacka at 6:55 PM on July 1

If you are young and healthy, you'll be able to get a "temporary insurance" plan from Anthem. I pay about $300 for six months of insurance and keep renewing it. I've been doing this for about 18 months now and I've had no problems. Not the best health insurance in the entire world, they don't cover birth control, but, hell, it is cheap and I won't be in debt for the rest of my life if I break my leg. The maximum out of pocket, I believe, is $3,500.
posted by banannafish at 6:57 PM on July 1

The Healthy Indiana plan is unworkable for two reasons. First, I have not been without healht insurance for six months. I wouldn't want to risk being without such insurance for such a long period fo time. Second, my family (not me!) makes too much to qualify so pretty much I am ineligible for it.

I am however considering getting a temporary plan for six months or so until I can find a job.
posted by leybman at 7:09 PM on July 1

Another problem is that the short-term health insurers will almost certainly deny me for having pre-existing conditions. There has got to be a way to get healht insurance in this country.
posted by leybman at 7:26 PM on July 1

I just recently signed up (like, yesterday) for the Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS) temporary plan in Alabama. It was the quickest, simplest application ever. And I wouldn't automatically assume that you would be denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions. You may at least be able to get minimal coverage, even if certain treatments for your pre-existing conditions are excluded from the coverage for a waiting period. I'm in a similar boat, having exhausted my ungodly-expensive COBRA, and having several pre-existing conditions. I think you're much more likely to get covered by a short-term policy (mine has a maximum length of 6months) than a regular one.

I highly suggest making a phone call to the BC/BS carrier (someone above said Anthem in your state? I dunno) and talking to one of the customer service types. BC/BS in Alabama at least, doesn't give you a waiting period for prescription coverage. So, even tho I have xyz condition and it's not covered until 1year from now, they'll still cover 80% or whatever of my daily pill to treat xyz condition.

I also talked to someone at UHC, another carrier with individual plans available in Alabama, and the "enrollment consultant" or whatever had a list of conditions that the underwriters would either (1) always deny someone coverage if they had it, or (2) take a hard look at the person and only possibly cover them if they had it. So if you can get someone good and run them over a brief description of your conditions, you might be able to get an idea of whether you're S.O.L. or not.

In Alabama, there is a high-risk insurance pool run by the state for people who are in our boat. It's also fairly expensive (my premium would've been like $450/mo) and the coverage isn't as good as you'd get privately, but it's possible that if you are denied by everyone else you'd be eligible for it. I found out about the Alabama version of it by reading through the insurance plan booklets/contracts on the BC/BS website. Down in the fine print where they talk about pre-existing conditions they mention the state-run pool as an alternative, because it doesn't make you have a waiting period for coverage, etc.

Also -- read up on HIPPA regulations. When you eventually get a job and get covered by their group insurance policy, make sure you have a certificate of creditable coverage showing that you haven't been without insurance for more than 63 days in the past (I think) 18 months. (That's the federal reg, may be slightly different in your state.) This will let you bypass any pre-existing condition problems with your employer-sponsored policy. (Don't know when you graduated, but hopefully you're still within the 63-day grace period right now.)

....

Like I said, I *just* went through all this. Feel free to message me if I can help, or if you need links to find the HIPPA information. Good luck!
posted by ahimsa at 8:13 PM on July 1

$300/month for COBRA is not a bad price at all. As a data point, I paid $600/month for myself the last time I was out of work.

While I can't in good conscience recommend it as a course of action, I know more than a few people in your position who married people who already had health insurance through their jobs. :-/
posted by crankylex at 8:17 PM on July 1

Since you're not working at the moment, you have the time to go to your local county assistance office and fill out an application for Medicaid. You'll get a letter in the mail letting you know if you qualify or not.
posted by The Straightener at 8:36 PM on July 1

Take a random interesting class at the nearest Community College? It's likely dirt cheap and you're back on the folks' insurance for awhile.

And you did mentioned unemployed - if your degree is in something that's not really job-friendly, take a skills class like horticulture or brewing or something. When I got out with my useless BA 12 years ago, I took an intensive machining class and was making 30k within four months.
posted by codswallop at 9:31 PM on July 1

Somewhat more general advice, but perhaps helpful: Lifehacker just did a post today on how to buy your own health insurance:

http://lifehacker.com/5304574/how-to-buy-your-own-health-insurance
posted by hazelshade at 4:02 AM on July 2

Even if your parents make too much for you to qualify for subsidized coverage through Healthy Indiana, it looks like it's possible to buy in to the program--that is, pay full price with no subsidies. You should definitely look into that.

A few people above have recommended buying temporary policies (those that last ~6 months then require renewal). I would be very, very careful with that. In my opinion, it's FAR better to risk medical bills by being uninsured for 6 months but getting into an insurance plan that can't be cancelled if you get sick (like Healthy Indiana), then it is to get immediate coverage but risk losing it if you become seriously ill. There's a reason that it's a lot cheaper to get temporary insurance plans, and it's because the companies know they can drop you (that is, the policies are NOT guaranteed-renewable, the company gets to decide whether it wants to keep covering you each time the policy comes up for renewal) as soon as you incur major medical bills. An insurance policy isn't worth much if you are covered while healthy but get dropped as soon as you get cancer. (more info on the rules governing individual policies in your state here.)

Pretty much the only time a temporary policy makes sense is if you absolutely know that you have a source of coverage in the future, and just need a stop-gap solution for short time so you're not uncovered--if, for instance, you were going into a graduate program in the fall and only needed coverage over the summer. That doesn't sound like it's the situation here.
posted by iminurmefi at 6:46 AM on July 2 [1 favorite has favorites]

Another option you could look into is finding a part-time job through an employer that offers all of its employees, even part-timers, health benefits. If $300 a month is too much for you and your family to afford, then you may need to take a part-time job anyway while looking for full-time work to defray the cost of your insurance. (Just as a data point, I have health insurance through a relatively low-cost HMO, my employer picks up about 70% of the cost, and I still pay $100 per month. I'm not sure how successful you'll be in finding a policy too much cheaper than $300 that would provide adequate coverage if you became seriously ill or injured.)

There's an older askme question here that has some ideas about part-time jobs that offer health insurance.
posted by iminurmefi at 6:56 AM on July 2

[Small derail removed. Contrary opinions are fine, but present them in a helpful way instead of taking broad swipes at your fellow mefites, please.]
posted by cortex at 5:29 PM on July 2