Health Insurance Options for the College Student

This is a guest post by Luke McCann. You can also write a guest post about getting out of debt.

College is a time where you find out who you are, learn about the real world a little bit and finally get away from your parents for a couple of months a year. That can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a little scary as well. There are so many things to think about and so many things that you may have not dealt with. One of those things you have to deal with for the first time is making an insurance decision. What are your choices?

Stick With Your Parents Health Insurance Policy

You can decide to stick with whatever coverage that your parents have you on until you are 26 (in the US). If your dad has a great policy through work, you should be able to stick with that coverage if you would like. However, if your parents are unemployed, or your parents make you contribute to the costs of that health care, you might be better off not sticking with your parents health insurance. Fortunately, there are still some other options you can mull over before making any decisions about your future health care coverage.

Go With A College Sponsored Health Plan

Going to college means that you have to have health care as it is required by a majority of schools. There is no getting around that decision, so if you don't have a plan, and you can't afford a private plan, you need to enroll with the school plan. What will happen is that you notify the school that you don't have a plan, and they will enroll you into the school plan. Another scenario is that you are automatically enrolled in the health plan the school provides, and you have to prove you have a better alternative. If you are automatically enrolled in a school sponsored plan then technically you don't have a decision to make, so you are all set.

Choose A Private Medical Coverage Plan

If you think you can save money, or get better coverage on your own, you should consider going that route. However, keep in mind that this route can be quite expensive unless you are willing to sacrifice certain levels of coverage. With that said, there is nothing that can keep you from purchasing your own insurance that will keep you covered as long as you can pay for it. If nothing else, it will give you a firsthand lesson about how expensive health care costs are if you are forced to pay for it yourself.

Getting insurance is the first adult decision that you will make as a college student. Luckily, the choices are pretty clear and already laid out for you. It will certainly be easier than trying to decide classes, deal with a noisy roommate or trying to figure out the bus schedule for the first time. The best part is that these tips can help you figure out any other type of insurance needs, such as car insurance, or renters insurance should you ever get an apartment off campus down the line.

Did you experience any pitfalls when you got your first insurance as a college student?

Author Brandon Everts is an insurance consultant and writes for GetInsuranceQuotes.ca, an insurance broker for Canada providing Alberta car insurance to Ontario car insurance -- as well as high risk and commercial coverages.

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