Young Graduates and Their Parents Often Overlook Medical coverage

The caps have been flung, the hugs the parties have ended, and recent high school grads look forward to college days filled with growth, learning, fun, and often no medical insurance.

A spokesperson for an Indiana based Insurance company said, “Each year, millions of students graduate from high school and college, and, for the most part, many don't realize, and even their parents don't realize,- they become one of America's largest groups of uninsured". A recent study by Families USA verified this. The survey found that more than 30% of those in the 19- 29 age bracket had no health insurance, which represents the highest percentage of Americans without affordable medical coverage among all ages.

According to health insurance professionals what many parents fail to realize is that when their medical insurance covers dependent children, once they turn 18, if they are no longer in school, that affordable medical insurance often expires. It has been reported by several groups that track the health insurance industry that in 2006 these young adults were the fastest-growing group of the uninsured. It seems that almost 40 percent of the nation's college graduates will be uninsured the first year after they leave campus, these studies have found.

And the problem of lack of access to affordable medical coverage does not only affect recent college grads, parents of High School grads, need to also take a close look at their healthcare coverage. It is estimated that more than 50% of high school grads decide not to attend college. While these young adults would likely continue to be covered on their parents health insurance policy if they attended college, most often their coverage ends upon leaving high school, even if they remain living at home.

Young people who have just graduated from high school often make the mistake of thinking that if they become self employed they are still covered on their parent’s policy, or if they start a full time job they have immediate access to health insurance benefits. They fail to realize that there is often a 90 day waiting period until employee based health benefits kick in, even if medical coverage is offered.

Insurance professionals recommend that for recent grads and their folks, a great option for affordable medical coverage is gap insurance. Gap insurance or so –called temporary or short term health insurance, are cheap medical insurance policies that are only intended to cover the insured for a brief period of time. The term on such affordable gap insurance policies is usually 6 months to year, making them ideal for a recent grad who may soon be acquiring employee based health insurance.