Health Insurance Blog

Adults aged 18 to 24 mostly do lack health care coverage. According to the state Department of Health of Minneapolis, 98,200 in that age group don’t have health insurance.

That’’s 19 percent of the college-aged group, compared to 7.4 percent overall.Those numbers bulge in the summer, the result of a state law that says a child can be covered by parents” insurance only until age 18, or until age 25 if they are a full-time student.That means thousands of college graduates fall off their parents” policies after they earn a diploma.

The state Legislature recently approved a change in the law that, effective Jan. 1, will allow young people who are dependents to remain on their parents” private health insurance until they turn 25.Getting graduates to understand the risk they”re taking without insurance is a challenge.Some colleges, including the University of Minnesota and, starting this fall, the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, require students to purchase a school health policy if they don”t have private insurance.Several Minnesota insurers are working on health coverage packages aimed especially at young people.

Since Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota unveiled its Simply Blue coverage for young adults in January, 1,500 policies have been sold, most of them to people ages 19 to 25.Simply Blue allows limited emergency room and doctor visits, but doesn”t cover expensive conditions such as pregnancy. Coverage can be purchased online, an advantage with young people.

Depending on the deductible and the applicant’’s health status, premiums for those under 30 range from $76 to $105 a month.Most of the inquiries about Simply Blue come from parents.Parents realize that at the end of the day, they”ll be the ones who will be paying if their child has an accident.On Memorial Day weekend, new college graduate Monica Heth was riding an all-terrain vehicle in northern Wisconsin when she crashed into a tree and flipped over.

The 22-year-old was wearing a helmet, but she broke her hand. As X-rays were taken at the hospital, Heth thought: I”m going to have to pay for this myself. Heth, who was undergraduate student body president at the University last year, graduated in May with a bachelor’’s degree in political science and global studies.

She begins law school at the University of Chicago this fall but stayed in Minneapolis this summer to work as campaign manager for a political campaign.Heth was dropped from her parents” insurance in April when she turned 22. She used the University’’s insurance for the rest of the school year and then, at her parents” urging, bought catastrophic coverage to bridge the summer until she gets student coverage again in Chicago.

While the damage to her hand doesn”t appear severe, Heth can”t perform her job, which involves typing. Doctors told her that her bones might be broken in more than one place, and they wanted her to come back for more X-rays. State Insurers are trying their best to change this and make these adults more insured and make their future secure.