College Grads: Will you be needing health insurance after graduation?

With studies showing that 34% of recent college spend some time uninsured after graduating, it's no surprise that health insurance is on their minds within days and weeks of graduation. With the rising costs of health care, some people are finding it difficult to find affordable coverage. Two-thirds of uninsured young adults skip needed care due to high costs, so whether your employer does not offer health coverage, or you are self employed, you may find yourself in a position where you need to seek your own health insurance policy. Luckily, at C & S, we can help you, so feel free to visit our website or call for more information! Also, for some helpful tips and advice, take a look at the information below about how to get health insurance from this CNN article!

1. Know your rights
While many states kick you off your parents' policy after you graduate from college, other states require your parents' insurance to stick with you, sometimes until you're 26.
2. Consider COBRA
If your insurance company boots you from your parents' policy, you can pay to stay on under the COBRA laws. Because only you are going on COBRA, not your parents, it may not be as expensive as you think. It's worth checking it out.
3. Be wary of short-term policies
If you think you might land a job soon, it might be tempting to buy a short-term policy. But before you sign on the dotted line, Karen Pollitz, project director of Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, says to read the fine print. Some short-term policies can kick you off at the beginning of each month if you've become an expensive person to insure, she says. "If you expect to start a new job in two months, but you get hit by a car in two weeks, your month-to-month policy will end mid-treatment and you'll be stuck with the remaining bills," she warns.
4. Shop around for a policy
Prices vary widely by location. We asked the folks at ehealthinsurance.com to price out some policies for us. For example, a healthy 24-year-old in Dallas, Texas, can get a policy for $117 a month, or in Chicago, Illinois, for $136 per month, or Miami, Florida, for $208 a month. All these policies have a $1,000 deductible, which means the insurance doesn't start paying until you pay $1,000 out of your own pocket.
5. Consider graduate school
Susan Vance, who teaches a class on financial responsibility to students at St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana, says you might want to consider graduate school, since policies generally will cover dependents as long as they're students. "I actually know someone who really didn't want to go to school but did so primarily for the insurance coverage," she says. "I think most college kids take it for granted," she says. "We expect to have it. But it goes away at graduation."