You graduated … now what? | Healthy UNH

In the last few months, the 2021 class has faced a lot of new challenges. Navigate them with me!

Many of us no longer had to live in Durham so we had to find an apartment or move back in with our family, we were looking for full-time jobs and trying to find new health insurance. Whether or not we had a full-time job offer after graduation, health insurance is a necessity. Well, I’m not an expert on health consumption, but I’ve had the opportunity to explore various health plans with the help of Google and my mom.

First I went to the government Health website and created an account. After creating an account, I was able to enter my own information and verify my email address. In order to get health insurance that matched my finances, I had to state where I worked, how much I paid per hour, and what my annual salary would be. Next, Healthcare.gov gave me about 4 pages of plans to choose from. I’ve picked the best that fits my budget after learning all of the meanings below.

Since there is an absurd amount of plans that only a 22 year old fresh college graduate can choose, let’s go over the basic definitions first:

• Deductibles: This is how much you pay before your insurance company pays. A deductible is technically an out of pocket because if your deductible is $ 100, you pay $ 100 (out of pocket) and insurance pays the rest.

• Out of the bag: This is the amount you would pay that is not covered by your insurance. These costs include deductibles, co-payments, co-insurance, and anything else your insurance doesn’t cover.

• Monthly premium: This is probably the easiest to understand! This is how much you pay for your health insurance every month. A lower premium usually means you are paying a copay and a higher premium usually means you may not have to pay a copay.

• Co-insurance: This is what you pay for after you pay the deductible. With a deductible of 20%, you pay 20% of the medical bill in addition to the deductible.

• Co-payment: You pay this every time you visit a doctor, the amount is on your insurance card, there is always a flat rate and there are no surprises with the additional payment! An additional payment is an outlay.

• Eligibility to participate: Before my insurance coverage could begin, I had to upload my pay slip to prove that my income was what I originally stated on my application.

In my opinion, this was quite difficult the first time. I suggest that you take the time to choose the right plan that you can afford that will suit your desired health care coverage. After taking my time and going through my own expenses and budget, I selected the plan that covered my GP and that covered my normal hospital that I have been going to since I was a kid. It is important that you look for and make sure that the health plan you choose covers your PCP (Primary Care Provider) and the specific medications you are taking. This is an extremely long and arduous process, but by becoming familiar with these terms you can make the process a little less painful.

Now that you’ve learned about some of the basic health insurance terms and meanings, what are you waiting for? Go to HealthCare.govs Website and see if your coverage is about to end if you’re eligible!