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Transitioning to your own insurance

Main page What to look for in an insurance plan Important insurance questions Insurance terms Types of insurance plans Understanding COBRA

Insurance is a complicated and vastly misunderstood topic. Hopefully, the information here will help make the myriad of choices a bit easier to navigate.

At some point, you will no longer be covered by your parents' insurance, meaning that you will go from being a dependent to an independent. For many insurance plans, that shift occurs by the age of 25 when you, the dependent, are no longer a student. If you are not enrolled in college, it may come as early as 18 when you legally become an adult.

Check with your current plan to find out at what age you “age-out” and must find a new plan.

Your options

• Insurance through employment

• Insurance through a university

• Insurance independent of any group

Scenarios

After completing high school:

• You go to college, with or without a job and do one of the following:

  • Stay on your parents' plan until you age-out.

  • Change to your university's offered plan.

  • Change to your employer's plan.

    • Most student or part-time jobs do not offer insurance.

  • Find your own health coverage.

• You get a job that offers health insurance benefits and do one of the following:

  • Stay on your parents' plan until you age-out.

  • This comes at an earlier age if you're not enrolled in school. With some plans, it may happen when you turn 19 and are no longer a student.

  • Change to your employer's plan.

  • Find your own health coverage.

• You get a job without group insurance and are not in college and do one of the following:

  • Stay on your parents' plan until you age out.

    • Remember, this may happen as early as age 18.

  • Find your own health coverage.

Helpful things to remember

• At some point you will age-out of your parents' plan. If you choose to change to your own plan before you age-out, you aren’t eligible for COBRA.

• If you are eligible, consider applying for temporary insurance under COBRA.

  Important: Under COBRA, you may pay much more for insurance than before.

•  If you are changing early, apply for short-term insurance.

• Search for a new plan before you age-out or before your COBRA coverage expires.

• If you are disabled, check out www.ssa.gov to see if you are eligible for Social Security disability insurance at any age and www.medicare.gov to look at future possibilities for disability benefits.

• You might be eligible for Medicaid. For more information, visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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