Instead of a computer or a car, health insurance might be a better gift for a college grad than a computer or a car.
Many new college graduates and their parents are surprised to learn that many health insurance plans stop covering adult children even if they are still living at home.
Most adult children who are still in school will lose coverage when they reach a certain age, graduate, or stop going to school full-time. Since most of these new college graduates won't have coverage until they get a job, many of them fall between coverage gaps.
There can be a large number of young adults who fit into this group. A 2002 Census Bureau report says that people between the ages of 18 and 24 are the least likely to have health insurance.
Some people find that temporary or short-term medical insurance is an effective way to meet this need. These policies are meant to fill in short gaps in health insurance coverage. Most of the time, they cover between one and six months. The exact length of coverage can vary by company and state.
As an example, Assurant Health, which was one of the first companies to offer short-term coverage, has plans that usually cover 30 to 185 days. Most of the time, this type of plan is cheaper than permanent plans because the insurance company is taking less risk.
Most temporary policies don't cover preventive care, physicals, immunizations, dental or eye care because they are meant to cover the unexpected. Also, temporary policies usually don't cover conditions that were already there.
Short-term medical insurance is usually bought by graduating students who are no longer covered by their parents' plan but are not yet covered by their employers' group plan. However, other people may be interested in the policy as well. People who are switching jobs or starting a new career, or who have just started a new job and have to wait a short time before they can join their employer's group insurance plan, may find that it meets a need.
