shopping for health insurance

[defspace]

Well, I just turned 26. I'm no longer covered by my parent's insurance plan. I am just out of gradschool, currently seeking work. I need insurance.
Of course, I know nothing about insurance because I never needed it before now. Who studies the in's and out's of health insurance if they don't have to?

I am in excellent physical health, require no prescription medication, hale and hearty and all that jazz. I hate going to the doctor. The only medical need I foresee is attention after a crash, if I snap a collarbone, rib, or wrist.

I've been looking at plans online, and there's pretty much an inverse relationship with premiums and deductibles, makes sense to me.
I assume a low premium/high deductible plan is the sort of plan for me. The likelihood of a severe crash injury is pretty low. Am I reading this right?

(Hopefully) I'll only be out of work a little bit longer, so I won't need this for too long, but until then I'll need to purchase coverage. Any insight into the health insurance world you Salonistas can provide would be appreciated. Most of the lingo means absolutely nothing to me. Coinsurance? HSA? What would you do in my shoes?

[Christian Fox]

I have to purchase health insurance for me and my family. I shudder to think what my premiums will look like next year. The only reason to go with a higher premium vs. deductible is you can write off some of the premium (not the deductible) from your taxes. I doubt at 26 you are itemizing deductions, so the low premium plan probably makes more sense. And, seriously, AWESOME JOB for taking responsibility for yourself and buying health insurance. Many, many young folks forgo health insurance because it's too expensive, yet wear nice clothes, drive nice cars, eat at nice restaurants and go on vacation. It goes, food, shelter, health insurance in my world. All that other shit is luxury.

Also, you can likely strip out prescription coverage from you plan and save a lot of money. HSA is a health savings account. This explains it better than I can:
Health savings account - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[sonnybiker]

obamacare?

[roseyscot]

not much to offer for advice, as I've always been covered by an employer in my adult life, but i agree with shoney, good for you for taking this step. even little things can add up really fast when you need medical aid.

[sailor]

Depending on where you live look into temporary plans through eheathinsurance.com The premiums run about 1/4-1/3 of full time insurance for a reasonable deductible (less than $5000) and you can sign up for a new 6 month term with only 2 days in between in some states. The deductible does renew every time, but if you really only worried about single incident costs the cheaper premiums seem like a no brainer.

[PGSmith]

Several years ago, I was in a similar situation. After years of great health (and better luck), I was planning to get a very minimal health insurance policy. My parents harassed me until I bought something more reasonable. I paid my first premium in November, then had a terrible crash during a race in June that left me in a wheel chair for 8 weeks. Without insurance, my bills would have been more than $60k. With the plan I was set to purchase before the parental intervention, I would have paid more than $15k out of pocket. In the end, I wiped out my meager savings, but avoided long-term financial consequences.

Plans and premiums vary a lot by state, so you're probably better to seek advice on the specifics from a local source.

[zachateseverything]

Since you're young and are mostly looking for crash/catastrophe insurance, my advice would be to focus less on co-pays and more on total out of pocket expenses. You'll likely find that a plan with a reasonable max out of pocket ($4-5000) provides the best value.

If you find yourself in a good paying job, an HSA makes an awful lot of sense.

[Eddie]

Depending on where you live look into temporary plans through eheathinsurance.com The premiums run about 1/4-1/3 of full time insurance for a reasonable deductible (less than $5000) and you can sign up for a new 6 month term with only 2 days in between in some states. The deductible does renew every time, but if you really only worried about single incident costs the cheaper premiums seem like a no brainer.

/\ This. I pay my own insurance, and I thought the process of finding a plan would be daunting. It was stupid easy. Decide what's important to you, shop the plans, apply, and if you're approved, boom, you're insured. I have really, really good coverage for a pretty reasonable premium. Feel free to PM me if you want to jam.