Health Care for a soon to be LT

Non Ducor Duco

I am not led, I lead
5-Year Member
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Mar 6, 2012
Messages
549
Hey so I'm in a bit of a weird spot.

I've aged out of my parent's TRICARE coverage as I will be 23 in a few days, but I still have one semester left of college (took the 5 year option for my engineering degree). I'm looking for some healthcare I can get until I go on active duty and qualify for tricare again.

My AFSC is Cyber and my current EAD is Sept 30, 2017 which is probably a placeholder since most ppl I know received that date, HOWEVER the pipeline of Cyber seems to be 1-4 month wait time which is relatively quick so I anticipate only needing to pay for a civilian health care service from now until September or October at the latest anyways.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should get for 9-10 months? It feels weird being without coverage and kinda stupid to just go without it for all that time. Im looking at different services and it's not very helpful b/c they assume that if i am a student i can stay on my parent's until im 26, yet the tricare option for young adults has different rules and assumes that at 23 im an adult with a reasonable income but I'm still living that "poor" student's life. Tricare's 23+ dependant option also seems pretty expensive, at over $200/month but ive never paid for healthcare so i can't gauge how normal that is
 
Recommend meeting with an insurance broker before your current plan lapses. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act you are required to carry insurance.
 
Hey so I'm in a bit of a weird spot.

I've aged out of my parent's TRICARE coverage as I will be 23 in a few days, but I still have one semester left of college (took the 5 year option for my engineering degree). I'm looking for some healthcare I can get until I go on active duty and qualify for tricare again.

My AFSC is Cyber and my current EAD is Sept 30, 2017 which is probably a placeholder since most ppl I know received that date, HOWEVER the pipeline of Cyber seems to be 1-4 month wait time which is relatively quick so I anticipate only needing to pay for a civilian health care service from now until September or October at the latest anyways.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should get for 9-10 months? It feels weird being without coverage and kinda stupid to just go without it for all that time. Im looking at different services and it's not very helpful b/c they assume that if i am a student i can stay on my parent's until im 26, yet the tricare option for young adults has different rules and assumes that at 23 im an adult with a reasonable income but I'm still living that "poor" student's life. Tricare's 23+ dependant option also seems pretty expensive, at over $200/month but ive never paid for healthcare so i can't gauge how normal that is

Assume you are probably a USAA member. Add this option to your comparative analysis.
https://mobile.usaa.com/inet/wc/insurance-mobile-health-insurance-product

I know zip about it, since I have no experience outside of TRICARE. It's worth looking.
 
Assume you are probably a USAA member. Add this option to your comparative analysis.
https://mobile.usaa.com/inet/wc/insurance-mobile-health-insurance-product

I know zip about it, since I have no experience outside of TRICARE. It's worth looking.
Haven't signed up for USAA yet since I've had navy federal from the beginning, I'll sign up for it eventually but NF has worked just fine for me.

Thanks I actually found a provider today. Got an affordable plan only by talking to a real human being because I couldn't even get an online quote. With the affordable healthcare act children under 26 can stay on their parents plans so they kept just telling me i needed to get back on my parent's plan. Tricare is the one exception, and Navy Federal assumes that if you are 23 you are a working adult with a salary and not a full time student so I wasn't eligible for anything reasonable.

This may be something that someone else is/will have a question about so id advise researching some insurance agencies and then give them a call. Save yourself the headache of trying for an online quote because they don't really account for this and thus aren't helpful at all.
 
Tricare for Young Adults is easy to sign up for. All of the info is on the Tricare website.
 
Tricare for Young Adults is easy to sign up for. All of the info is on the Tricare website.
It may be easy to sign up for but it'll run you about $100 more per month than some other insurances.
 
Also check with Student health at your school because of mandatory insurance requirements schools should be working with ACA liasons and Medicaid for the state. My DS is on Medicaid till his 18 bday with no extension for being in school under me because I am disabled SSDI and VA. We have had the issue of Medicaid being a state based program aleady since he could not even use his Fl Medicaid to cover shots at student health in AL so had to make his Dr/Dentist and Shot appointments for when he was home on break. After he turns 18 in Fall we have to try to find him insurance till he is active duty. At least he will have the ROTC stipends to hopefully pay for that.
 
Non Ducor--you are still a full time student, right? For the rest of the year that you are a student it would seem you could go through the insurance offered through your university/college. You have probably tossed that piece of paper into the trash but it might be a better deal for you as it is insurance built specifically for college students. You will have to come up with another way to cover yourself after you graduate and before you come on to active duty but you might save yourself quite a bit of cash for the next four or five months.
 
Non Ducor--you are still a full time student, right? For the rest of the year that you are a student it would seem you could go through the insurance offered through your university/college. You have probably tossed that piece of paper into the trash but it might be a better deal for you as it is insurance built specifically for college students. You will have to come up with another way to cover yourself after you graduate and before you come on to active duty but you might save yourself quite a bit of cash for the next four or five months.
True I did think about that, and with the regular fees I already pay, all of my visits (to include some x-rays) have been totally free. Though that insurance would only cover extra services at my college and im not entirely sure if it would cover me if i was out of town and had to go to the hospital for something. I travel a lot for club sports so I'm worried that if I got injured during a game out of town I wouldn't be covered by my school insurance. I started looking while my school was closed for the holiday so I haven't been able to inquire further about the extent of the coverage. Also, as I graduate in a few months, it wouldn't last me in the months post commissioning while I'm waiting to go active.
 
Most university health plans for undergrads have a section in the policy for coverage out of the area and even abroad.

My DS has this type of coverage and it is specifically described as covering medical emergencies when more than 100 miles away or traveling abroad. However it is important to note that club and intramural sports are specifically excluded from coverage.

Here is a link for a sample policy (see the bottom of page 26):
https://www.uhcsr.com/uhcsrBrochures/Public/ClientBrochures/2016-524-1 Certificate.pdf
 
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Sorry for the mediocre advice Non Ducor. With the sports and travelling, the college plan does not seem like a good fit. It sounds like you had a lead on something through NF. If it were my house, we'd go with Tricare Standard---it can be carried beyond graduation and provides extensive coverage anywhere. Good luck with a hard decision.
 
Most university health plans for undergrads have a section in the policy for coverage out of the area and even abroad.

My DS has this type of coverage and it is specifically described as covering medical emergencies when more than 100 miles away or traveling abroad. However it is important to note that club and intramural sports are specifically excluded from coverage.

Here is a link for a sample policy (see the bottom of page 26):
https://www.uhcsr.com/uhcsrBrochures/Public/ClientBrochures/2016-524-1 Certificate.pdf
Ooooooooooo nice catch AROTC-dad. I bet they thought they were being slick with that one, not covering you for getting hurt by playing a school offered club/intramural team.

Yeah the thing I really want to make sure im covered for is injury playing a school sport that's not one of the big school sponsored ones like football, etc but can still be a physical game. I've never gotten hurt from anything besides overworking certain muscles but accidents do happen and it'd be dumb to not have insurance to cover it for the last few months of my college career. I know enough first hand stories of cadets getting into terrible accidents months/weeks before and after commissioning. So I'm feeling extra superstitious about these last few months.

I ended up going with the Independent American Insurance Company. For healthcare and dental it was a good deal cheaper per month than NF but still over $100.

And DrMom, don't sweat it. That was good advice for a student with a few years left in college, I just happen to be in an unusual situation so I thought that current members may have run across this issue.
 
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