Paul Leffer will be taken off his parents' insurance in December, at which point he will be going without insurance for a while.
A fifth-year senior majoring in residential property management, Leffer will be waiting until after he graduates to once again have health insurance coverage. He said he hopes to be able to get a job as an assistant property manager because most companies that have assistant property manager positions offer insurance.
"I don't make enough money and have no way to afford my own plan," he said.
Being in an accident and contracting a serious disease are not pleasant topics to consider, and they become even more unpleasant when the thought of not having insurance coverage is a reality. However, more and more Americans are beginning to face this situation as the number of uninsured people continues to rise nationwide.
According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of uninsured Americans has increased from 39.9 million in 2001 to 46.3 million in 2008. The number of uninsured Hoosiers has increased from 669,000 to 772,000 over the same time period. This number covers people who have been without insurance for an entire year and does not include those who have recently lost their insurance or who have had gaps in their insurance.
The rising trend in people without insurance has not had as harsh of an effect on recent college graduates, Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, said. The number of those who are uninsured is primarily a result of unemployment rising, and the unemployment rate for college graduates has remained relatively low. In September the unemployment rate of college graduates was only 4.9 percent, he said.
Hicks said the absence of health insurance isn't a significant factor on the economy right now.
When it comes down to it, there are options out there for college graduates looking for health insurance, he said.
Going without insurance is an option for college students, but Hicks said it's better to pay for some coverage, even if it isn't the best, than to have to worry about what could happen without it.
"The best thing to tell them is it would be very risky [without insurance]. They will still get health care, but the debt suffered would be enormous," he said.
<b>Filling in the gaps</b>
Daniel Schuch has held three different jobs since he graduated from Ball State in May 2008. With each of his three jobs he had a slightly different insurance situation. The first job, full-time manager at Regal Cinemas, offered health insurance, but because he was still covered on his parents' insurance he didn't take it.
"I was lucky enough that my father's company insurance covered me up until the end of 2008. As long as I was in school for one semester during the year I was covered for the entire year," Schuch said. "So I graduated in May of 2008 and had coverage under my dad's insurance until December 31, as long as I lived at home."
In October 2008 he decided to take a job selling insurance with AFLAC, but was not offered health insurance as part of his salary. At that point he had three months of coverage left under his father's insurance, and then he would have to find his own coverage.
He went without insurance for the month of January before acquiring insurance through Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
"I had received a letter after I graduated from an insurance agent with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield offering to help me get coverage. I decided to call [the agent] to purchase a short-term plan," he said.
After AFLAC, Schuch took a full-time job at Two Men and a Truck as an operations and marketing manager. This job did offer insurance, and Schuch is paying a little more for his insurance now. He is getting full coverage including dental and vision, which he wasn't getting before.
When it comes down to just health insurance, Schuch is paying the same amount he was paying on his old plan. For his individual coverage through Anthem he was paying about $71 a month for partial coverage. His full coverage through his current job costs him $100 a month, $72 of which goes toward health insurance.
Schuch said the best thing for graduates to do is to check out their parents insurance to see how long they will be covered. When it comes to getting individual coverage, it can be found and purchased at a reasonable price, he said.
"I think everyone needs to have coverage and can go out and get coverage on their own," Schuch said. "It just takes some sacrificing to do it. I had to give up a lot of extras to do it but I was able to."
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