Comments on: How To Get Independent Health Insurance

By: Confused

Confused — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:54:39 +0000

Can a child under age 26, having a temporary job for 9 months, be qualified to be under a parent’s health plan until age 26? His employer does have a health plan but is very expensive which child cannot afford to pay monthly premiums. If he is not qualified to be under his parent’s plan, but once his job is terminated, is it possible to be qualified then?

By: Linda Kennedy

Linda Kennedy — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:27:54 +0000

I am 62 and retiring from my permanent job. I need health insurance for the next 3 years. Any advice??

By: Mary@SimplyForties

Mary@SimplyForties — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:10:03 +0000

When I left the workforce to go completely freelance I used COBRA for awhile and then went with a plan I found on eHealthInsurance. I’ve been really happy with them. They work independently from the Aetna plan that I bought and supposedly will help me with Aetna if I need them to. I recently got an e-mail from them saying that Aetna was about to raise my rates (I haven’t heard this from Aetna yet) and suggesting this might be a good time to shop around. I’m going to wait until Aetna notifies me of the rate change, just in case, but I may well go back to the drawing board with eHealthInsurance if I receive that notification.

By: ejosef

ejosef — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:02:38 +0000

Just wondering what your thoughts are on a single payer system such as the one being proposed in H.R. 676.

I grew up in Canada and moved to Maryland 5 few years back. Even though I have employer sponsored health insurance, I got to say it’s pain dealing with the insurance company and a shock how much premium I pay for plus all the co-pays. Even though the taxes were higher in Canada, I feel like I’m paying more now for healthcare. I also liked the fact that in Canada I could choose any doctor or hospital I wanted to go to without worring whether they were in-network or not. As for service, I really don’t see much difference – the wait times and quality of service are about the same. I also understand that the companies in Canada pay a smaller share of the healthcare expenses than US companies – I could believe that given my company every year reminds us that it pays 80% of the share of healthcare expenses of it’s employees. I bet if they were paying less on healthcare benefits, they’d be more generous with my pay.

Even though I’m still a Canadian citizen, I have to actually be residing in Canada for at least 6 months before I can avail of the universal health care there – that sucks…

By: Bradley

Bradley — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:48:00 +0000

When moving to a country with universal healthcare I assume you have become a citizen to reap the benefits. I looked into moving to the UK a few years back and I remember it takes 5 years before you can apply for citizenship. Not sure about any other countries.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:37:31 +0000

Yes I did, to be considered a “domestic partner” she would’ve had to have lived with me for at least a year.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:10:48 +0000

Did you look into whether your wife (girlfriend at the time) could qualify as a “life partner” under your company’s health insurance plan? My company offers the same benefits to life partners and a co-worker managed to get his girlfriend covered through this clause. I thought it was a pretty good idea myself…

By: Meoip

Meoip — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:53:27 +0000

If you work for a company looking for insurance don’t forget to look for Human Resource Outsourcing or employee leasing options. They employee your employees and then lease them back to the company this allows them to offer group plans to your employees. They run payroll and have a few other options.