Use My Parents Insurance or Get My Own?

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Getting & Losing Insurance

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While not having to get your own insurance plan may sound convenient, there are potential drawbacks of staying on a parent's health insurance plan until the age of 26. Here are some takeaways from this video:

  • Start by having an open conversation with your parent of parents about your health insurance situation. When parents include their children on their employer-sponsored plan, it often means they are choosing a different, potentially more expensive plan than they would if they were only covering themselves.

  • The general principle is that the more people that are covered on an insurance plan, the higher the cost tends to be. As an example, if an individual is the only child on their parents' plan and their parents are paying an extra $200 per month for this coverage, but the individual's own job offers similar coverage for $100 per month, switching to their own insurance plan could result in monthly savings of $100.

  • We encourage individuals to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of staying on their parents' plan versus obtaining their own coverage, taking into account potential savings and their own employment benefits.