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majid_sabet
Apr 20, 2006, 2:19 AM
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Parents Need to Be Educated on Health Insurance Risks
By: PRNewswire on Apr 19 2006 09:10:20
Student Health Insurance
Nearly 40% mistakenly believe that adult children living at home are still covered under their health insurance plans
Graduation day is just around the corner, but it's the parents of these young students who still need remedial education on whether their health plans cover their children and the options now available for short-term medical insurance.
Findings from a recent national survey of college parents revealed that only 23 percent were highly confident that their adult children would immediately find a job after college that provides health insurance. Yet, fewer than one in three were aware that they could buy short-term medical insurance for these young adults for as little as $50 per month.
The research was conducted by College Parents of America and Assurant Health. It reaffirmed the results of a previous Assurant Health survey that showed 40 percent of parents mistakenly believed that adult children (ages 21 - 24) living at home were covered under their health insurance plans.
"We hope this sends a wake-up call to the tens of thousands of parents who do not realize they may be at great financial risk right after their children graduate," said James A. Boyle, founder and president of College Parents of America, the only national membership association dedicated to advocating and serving on behalf of current and future college parents.
Some of the survey's other findings included:
* 20 percent of parents have no idea when their health insurance will no longer cover their college-age children.
* Most believe that short-term health insurance for a healthy young adult costs more than $100/month, when in fact such policies can be obtained for as little as $50/month.
* 68 percent of the parents were not even aware of the availability of short-term health insurance, which typically offers coverage for periods ranging from one to six months.
"Other studies show that about 40 percent of young adults are uninsured at some time during the year following their graduation," said David Andrews, Vice President, Product Management, Short Term Medical for Assurant Health. "With college expenses so high, the last thing parents and their children need is to get hit with unexpected medical bills."
According to Assurant Health data, a climbing accident could result in more than $450,000 in medical expenses, while a case of pneumonia can cost $75,000. One Assurant Health policyholder suffered a spinal cord injury that cost $623,000 to treat, yet paid only $266.40 for six months of short-term coverage.
Assurant Health offered the country's first Short Term Medical Plan in 1973 and is the leading provider of temporary health insurance. For more information on the company's other health insurance products and services, please visit http://www.assuranthealth.com
The survey was conducted online among a nationally representative sample of college parents in March 2006, and its results carry a 95% confidence with a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
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kylerose
Apr 20, 2006, 3:37 AM
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Good advice, but I must say that this sounds like an advertisement. IMO, I think this thread should be removed.
BESIDES,
I had assurant and, ironically, they put in an exemption such that they wouldn't cover me for any injury from climbing.
Needless to say I switched companies.
I pooh in the general direction of this post.
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csgambill
Apr 20, 2006, 4:31 AM
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Assurant Health is a client of one of the companies I work for. From an AR (accounts receivable) standpoint they are a pain in the ass to deal with. I could go into more detail, but no one really wants to hear about accounting mumbo jumbo.
Dude, go back to cold calling.
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mrsuicide
Apr 20, 2006, 5:15 AM
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i just turned 23 and am no longer covered under my parents health insurance.
i bought my own plan under healthnet for $35 a month. This plan has a $3000 deductable, afterwhich i pay nothing. This is in case any of those big ticket injuries happen. $35 a month is very reasonable if you just need this kind of insurance.
i think i looked it up and applied on www.ehealthinsurance.com, filled out a form, took maybe 20 minutes.
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mrsuicide
Apr 20, 2006, 5:21 AM
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ehealthinsurance.com
$35 a month under healthnet for myself (just turned 23, out of my parents' coverage)
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roshiaitareya
Apr 20, 2006, 7:06 AM
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I agree, assurant sucks. I have them because I couldn't find anything else, and they just keep raising my rates. I don't know how someone got 6months of coverage for 266 because the cheapest I could get it was 95 a month, and I'm healthy with very few claims on my insurance. Anyways, yeah, it looks like an ad.
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scuclimber
Apr 20, 2006, 8:01 AM
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So what the hell does the quoted article have to do with climbing and where is there any mention of a "Climbing Accident and $450,000 Medical Bill" in the original post? Lame... I would poop on the original post if I could rate today.
Colin
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t-dog
Deleted
Apr 20, 2006, 8:11 AM
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Pooped....
and don't forget to wear your helmet!!
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chossmonkey
Apr 20, 2006, 10:16 AM
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..........and pooped.
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nedsurf
Apr 20, 2006, 10:59 AM
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Yeah, I definitly give my daily brown lumpy for this post as well. I had assurant for my only insurance for a while. You would not believe the deductable. Also, the coverage I got let me get billed up to ten grand in co-pays if something actually did happen.
This type of stuff is the crap that the current government is advertising as affordable healthcare for all where most poor people cannot afford to pay the high deductable for preventative medicine such as regular checkups. These policies exist to thwart people in need from relying on public assistance programs for their healthcare. It is part of that great balancing act of the economy of the working poor. The book Nickel and Dimed is good reading about this. :x
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bobruef
Apr 20, 2006, 12:45 PM
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Had assurant for a while too. Very high deductable, and I'd have loved to know about the 50 dollar a month plans, as my wife and I paid over 200 a month.
Oh, yeah, they hardly covered anything.
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markc
Apr 20, 2006, 1:02 PM
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In reply to: According to Assurant Health data, a climbing accident could result in more than $450,000 in medical expenses, while a case of pneumonia can cost $75,000. One Assurant Health policyholder suffered a spinal cord injury that cost $623,000 to treat, yet paid only $266.40 for six months of short-term coverage.
The title of this thread is misleading, and the information here is bullshit. A climbing accident could result in $450,000 of medical bills. In my case, my only accident (while uninsured) was more like $450. Those two data points mean nothing by themselves. I agree that this reads more as an advertisement than an informative piece, and have little doubt as to the motivations for quotes that provide severe sticker shock.
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fitzontherocks
Apr 20, 2006, 1:57 PM
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And people can die from pneumonia, so the resulting bill can be hundreds of thousands, too. I'd poop on this post if I knew how.
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chossmonkey
Apr 20, 2006, 2:02 PM
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In reply to: And people can die from pneumonia, so the resulting bill can be hundreds of thousands, too. I'd poop on this post if I knew how.
You have to do it when you can vote on posts.
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corpse
Apr 20, 2006, 2:10 PM
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Soooo that's his deal.. majid has taken up the hobby of reporting accidents as a means of freaky the shit outta people, and then after a bunch of times passes, he tries to sell them on health insurance.. I would give this post a heaping helping of coffee and prune juice induced anal vomit. LAME.
Steve Corbin, a life insurance person, did a post awhile back which was a straightforward ad - and now I have a 1.5million policy that covers me if I die climbing - and that's a good chunk of coin to help my kids move on financially.
He's probably an ambulance chaser too. "That flaked pulled off you say on government property, while tresspassing and freesoloing? here's my card, I do PI work"
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tweek
Apr 20, 2006, 3:30 PM
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The original post wasn't that bad until the sales pitch at the end. The one point is important though... everyone should have health insurance and catastrophic coverage is avaiable for around 50- 100 bucks a month (I do not work for a company (actually hate them myself) but I just finished four years of not having work provided health care and being on one of these plans.) This is especially important in those ever financially challenging few years after collage when many people are being dropped without knowing it from their parents plans (happened to me for dental insurance. Thought the cavities were being covered then the claim got denied since I was too old by a month.)
The post that said that the deductibles are high and the co-pays are too high for preventative coverage is not grasping the point of catastrophic coverage. You don't buy a 50 dollar a month plan to go see your doctor when you have a cold or for a check-up. You buy coverage so when you get cancer or shatter your hip climbing which could result in your and your families future are not destroyed financially. Most of us could deal with a 3000-10000 dollars of debt to pay off (not easily but we could do it with loans and the like- and this is what an accident will cost if you have the insurence.) Few of us could deal with 60-100 grand in debt without it seriously changing our lifestyle – that is where the catastrophic coverage comes in.
One thing that was not mentioned but also important is that for climbing you need to read the fine print. One coverage plan that I was offered specifically said that any injury resulting from a sport that did or should involve a rope was not covered. Obviously if you are reading this board then that insurance plan would probably not work for you.
If I were the original poster I would delete the second half of it. I know many companies offer these sorts of plans so if you are looking for coverage just don't support the one mentioned in the first post since it is self serving.
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bighigaz
Apr 20, 2006, 3:36 PM
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Wow, my wife's diabetic, and we're business owners... our insurance cost per month is $550! All those other rates sound pretty good to me!
It does sound like a frickin' commercial though... kinda stupid. Wish I had my pooper today!
Here's some "insurance", guaranteed to save you money! --
-DON'T BE STUPID. That should protect you from your own negligence.
-Always climb as if YOUR BELAYER IS STUPID. That should protect you from his/her negligence.
-If you aren't sure about your equipment, THROW IT AWAY. (Trust me, it's not worth it.)
-Finally, there's nothing you can do about unexpected natural elements, so SAY YOUR PRAYERS & STAY ON YOUR TOES. Hopefully that will protect you against all the other crap that can go wrong with or without your help!
When your time is up, it's up. In the mean time, go climbing!
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thorne
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Apr 20, 2006, 3:45 PM
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Taking your chances and going without health insurance is russian roulette. I've done it and I was lucky. But in the last five years I've had two surgeries, both requiring MRIs beforehand.
Insurance may be expensive, but it's chicken scratch compared to paying out of pocket for a major medical procedure.
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bluering
Apr 20, 2006, 3:47 PM
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I can't beleive this thread. I'm pooping on it and leaving
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jakedatc
Apr 20, 2006, 3:58 PM
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why hasnt this been removed yet? It's not about an injury or accident or even about climbing.. Plus the title makes you believe something happened which it didn't it should be either changed or moved to the shit pile
almost spam like to me damn i don't have any votes today :evil:
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nedsurf
Apr 20, 2006, 5:04 PM
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Yes, I'm aware that these type of plans are just supposed to be just catastrophe insurance. That is the mindset I had when I bought into it when just out of college.
When I was speaking of the high deductables thwarting getting checkups I was digressing into a topic about how this type of healthcare is being pointed to within the D.C. Beltway (A.K.A. Federal Government/ Capitol Hill) to exemplify that the American Healthcare system is affordable for all people. It is indeed a very attractive concept in this country that holds dear ideas like "justice for all".
The problem is that when the average person with the regular job hears "affordable healthcare for all" by a talking head on the television, it usually evokes a concept of having a PCP and going to that PCP for things like strep throat. The details of this healthcare for all do not usually get enlightened by standard network news. This imagery is a far cry from the reality of these insurance programs that make poor people look at their bank account funds before going into see the doc. These same poor people cannot afford the preferred health insurance. The illusion is sustained for the majority of Americans and the popular opinion does not push for healthcare reform. However, check out what Mass. is doing about this. Perhaps this will turn into a state issue.
Another digression. The funny thing is I do not work in lobbying or the hill. One cannot live in DC without at least being exposed to the three ring circus that dominates the city. It truely does saturate the whole of DC, bars, house parties, dating, climbing at Carderock.
Perhaps to get this thread back on track, or to Hijack it. What have the independant, non-regular job holding climbers done for health insurance and/or health care?
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