Health Insurance Without College?
What do young ladies do about health insurance if you are not going to college? We are seeking the Lord about what our daughters should do after high school. At this point, we're leaning towards them not going. One of my concerns is that our daughters would not be covered under our insurance plan if they don't take 12 credit hours of college after age 18. One of our daughters has asthma so we need to have coverage on her. We cannot afford additional an health insurance premium on top of what we already are paying. Any ideas you can share with me would be most helpful!I'd love to hear what others have to share on this. This is definitely something to take into consideration. When I graduated, I was 18 and our coverage plan was only applicable to those who were full-time students. Since I was not planning to go to college, my dad was able to talk with our insurance company and get a one-year extension on the coverage plan. The next year, I got my paralegal certification through Oak Brook College of Law, so I considered a full-time student (albeit from home) and so I was able to continue with the coverage. After that, I got married, so then I moved to my husband's plan. So, it was fairly simple for me.
Many thanks,
Molly
I'd love to hear what others have done that have run into similar situations. Have you appealed to your insurance companies or gone without insurance? Or used alternative insurance plans (like Medi-Share)? Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
posted by Crystal Paine at 10:08 PM
13 Comments:
I would think that most community colleges offer plenty of courses that would 'count' towards the 12 hours and not compromise anyone. Our community college offers music, interior design, cooking, literature things that many women would enjoy that wouldn't involve being away too much. ALSO there are lots of at home offerings (my husband got his MBA at home via Keller University). Insurance, unfortunately is a necessary part of today's medical care. Creativity is needed to follow the 'rules'
Would the health insurance be more expensive than paying for college??? Most colleges are at least $7,500/year. Would insurance be more than that for one person?? If they are not going to school they could always try to get a full-time job with benefits or a part-time job to cover the cost of the increase in your premium. This could be done until they are married -- which at that point they would be covered under their husband's insurance and then they can focus on being a SAHW/SAHM.
This is an interesting problem and one that is going to become a major issue in years to come.
I work in the insurance industry, specifically Medicaid. Depending on the state, the young lady might be eligible for Medicaid or another state program, as 18 is considered an adult. If it wouldn't be too much of a privacy breech, can I ask what state the young lady lives in? New York, Washington, Oregon and Idaho (to name a few) have some very good programs for people who can't afford single-payer private insurance.
Your other options are single-payer (expensive, sounds like this wouldn't work), discount plans (ok in theory but the doctors who accept it may not be all that great, and you MUST pay VERY close attention to what's "covered" to prevent any surprises), and working with the drug companies to help pay for the pharmaceuticals (they have programs now to help pay for expensive meds).
I would consider talking with the family physician to see if he/she can work with the young lady on either a payment plan, or barter in return for services. Physicians have very busy lives, he/she may appreciate help with the home, babysitting, light bookkeeping, etc in return for medical services. I understand fully the concept of keeping the young lady in the home and not working, but in this case where the young lady has a very real health problem and not too many insurance options, maybe the family would consider it?
It's such a shame that health care is seen as a privlege in this country, rather than a right. It's a "reward" for working, but working isn't an option for some people!
Families in my community who share objections about their daughters going to college have remedied such issues by simply enrolling their daughters in local community colleges or area universities, such that the girls could live at home as well as earn their undergrad degrees. Best of both worlds! Also- the families' involvement in local colleges helped to raise the academic standards in their area and also provided a great Christian witness.
Perhaps starting an at-home business or helping with a family business could cover the increase in premiums for adding an adult daughter onto a parents' insurance policy. Or maybe by starting a business, a young woman could get her own policy through her business? I don't know exactly how that works, but she might be able to take a salary and benefits from her own business, and write them off as company expenses.
I've heard good things about Samaritan Ministries - http://www.samaritanministries.org/ - a Christian medical sharing organization.
Trusting, Trusting! Having faith he will meet your needs no matter WHAT they are. I have not had insurance since I finished school. And with 8 siblings I did worry in the begining at first about all the "what ifs" I broke something, got seriously sick, ect... But everytime I have had health issues God has supplied my needs to my parents. I think when we let our faith go astray God will test us and say how far? He is ALMIGHTY!!! If he can die for us and cleanse away our sins then how can we not beleive he will cover our health issues to?
I am 22 and till this moment in life I have not wanted to go to college. But I feel Gods leading to become a nurse midwife. Never before was college an issue "just" to get medical coverage.
Remember he will supply all our needs. If we only trust him.
None of us have medical coverage of any kind. I haven't been to the doctor in about 10 years!!
Whenever we have had expensive emergency room fees usually we call and talk to them they will take away most if not all of the fee... since our income is below a certain amount.
I don't think health insurance is a bad idea, but it is possible to get by just fine without it.
God has provided in every case... mostly in keeping us all very healthy!!
Well, I have to say that I have actually HAD an experience where God took care of me in time of medical need, so I can agree with Cole.
A few years ago I was unemployed (no insurance) and came down with a raging infection. I tried everything to get it to heal on its own, but in the end it was really bad so I needed to see my doctor.
My doctor was pretty appalled at how bad the infection was and I needed a very expensive antibiotic ($125 dollars!) to cure it. Luckily, he was able to give me a full course from his collection of samples and then didn't charge me for the visit! I felt very blessed that day.
So yes, trusting God is very important. I believe this also includes listening to the ideas and advice of other people, because God may be showing you the way through the advice those people are offering!
I have experience dealing with this one :)
If the parents of the young lady in question are not opposed, both community college courses or distance learning (which includes "extended campus", "online learning" and "correspondence" courses) might be an option. These may be considerably less expensive than taking on-site college credits (though not always- our local university bills distance learning at the same rate as regular tuition). First, one would need to find out the specifics on what the insurance company accepts as "course credit".
Some community campuses and distance learning programs include not only standard academic fare, but classes on practical topics such as knitting, sewing, bike/car repair, agricultural concerns and the like.
If only academic coursework is acceptable, there are still many options- check the course listings for your local (or not so local) college.
Several of my brothers and I started "college" young; we began with community college courses to get the basic credits out of the way and then moved on to taking classes at the local university, including some online and some on the local air force base (who knew that riflery, rappelling, first aid and orienteering would count for college credit?). This was a concern for us because our parents are retired military and once your children are over a certain age, they have to be enrolled in school in order to remain covered as dependents under the military health care system.
My prayers that you find a satisfactory solution for your family!
I am a 20-year-old young lady who lives at home and teaches piano part time. Once I was no longer on my family's insurance policy, I got my own through the same provider (Blue Cross Blue Shield). It was my parents' desire that I do this because I do have a small income and can afford it. Right now, the cost is about $800-900 per year.
I certainly trust the Lord to provide for my needs (even to meet my deductible requires faith!), but I don't believe that having health insurance negates that. We all have car insurance, do we not? And most people have some kind of homeowner's insurance or even life insurance. God always provides for us and can certainly still exercise His omnipotence through means like these. When we get sick, we may have faith that God can heal us outright, but it may be in His plan to use doctors to accomplish His ends.
In my case, having insurance is the only way to be an obedient and respectful daughter. My family has insurance, but if I didn't and ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills (and I've seen this happen in no time!), they would still be held responsible too. Even if you are not living at home, in some instances the hospital can still put demands on your parents or siblings to pay your bills.
All in all, there is a lot to prayerfully consider.
I'd encourage you to closely read your insurance policy. After going through the hassle of setting up my own insurance policy, we discovered that I could still be on my Daddy's insurance.
Even though his employer said that I couldn't, our insurance policy said that as long as I lived at home and was financially dependent on Daddy that I could be on the policy until I was 26. So after many phone calls back and forth between Daddy's employer and the insurance company, it was determined that I am covered on Daddy's policy.
So read your policy book carefully, the fine print. It might take some phone calls, but it doesn't hurt to look into.
There are some less expensive options out there. I think you just have to look for them. My sister pays $75 a month for pretty good coverage. Her copays are high, but she rarely sees the doctor. However, in case of emergency or illness, she has it. That's why its called insurance. She's a member of an HMO so maybe that helps.
Try looking at correspondence courses as well. Some schools allow you to take the classes on television or the internet and you get college credit to boot. You do that from home so you don't have to send your girls away and they can still be covered on the insurance if they're taking enough classes.
Finally, I have to address this because it really eats at me. I believe that advising someone to not get health insurance for their children is irresponsible. Its like driving around with your seatbelt unbuckled because you are "trusting" God to keep you safe. Some people are very fortunate in that they never get sick and never have medical emergencies, but that's just not the case for most people. If you're going to deny your daughters the opportunity to receive a higher education, at least make sure they have some medical insurance.
If you're going to deny your daughters the opportunity to receive a higher education, at least make sure they have some medical insurance.
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Just had to jump in here quickly and say that I don't think you are depriving your daughters if you don't encourage them to go to college. I do think you are depriving them if you don't raise them to seek the Lord, think Biblically, and earnestly desire to follow His will for their life -- not just blindly follow the pack. :) If my parents had made me go to college I would have been miserable. They certainly didn't deny me anything (they would have allowed me to go to college if I had sought the Lord and come to them with a good reason for doing so -- which I didn't have -- after much prayer) and I don't think I'm any worse off today for not going to college. I have received lots of education (and plan to continue on in my education journey for the rest of my life!), just not in the "typical" fashion.
Also, if someone is seeking the Lord and they are feel at peace to trust God and not have insurance, I don't see any problem with that. God doesn't need insurance to provide for us, though I don't think it's unwise to have. God can provide through insurance or He can provide without insurance. We just have to be faithful to seek Him for our own particular and unique circumstances.
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