Adulting 101 – Picking a health insurance plan blog

It’s finally here…the year you turn 26 and no longer qualify to be on Mom or Dad’s health insurance, so you need to find your own plan. Welcome to adulting! If you have health insurance available to you through your employer, losing your parent’s coverage is a qualifying event for a special enrollment period. This means you won’t have to wait for open enrollment, which is typically in the fall and used to enroll for coverage that starts the following year. You’ll want to contact your HR department to learn what steps you need to take to enroll and request more information about the available plans. If you don’t have employer-sponsored health insurance available to you, you’ll need to enroll for coverage via the Marketplace at healthcare.gov or use your state’s exchange to find your health insurance plan. You should look into your options at least a few months before your 26th birthday. When you are reviewing your available choices either through work or the public marketplace, use the tips in this article from NPR to help you decide what’s best for you and your family. If you’ll be using the public marketplace to purchase insurance and you still aren’t sure which plan to choose, keep in mind you can use this tool from healthcare.gov to find someone local that can help you decide.

- Margaret Gooley, CFP®, Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors