petitefrancaise

I belong to a freelancer's group here in Austin. Late last year, the discussion came round to health insurance and the high cost of it if you have to get it through the ACA.

It seems quite a few of these freelancers sign up for 3 credit hours at the local community college - usually online courses which you don't even have to do. This allowed them to sign on with the college student health insurance which was way cheaper than anything they could get on their own, even taking into account the small cost of the credit hours.

scrubbedexpat091

Not a bad idea if the school offers such a plan.

I got curious and checked my old community college in California, they don't offer student health plans and recommend students apply for medi-cal, find a job with benefits or buy from the ACA marketplace.

No mention of any student health plan.

DebzinUS

This is the info from the University where I am employed (University System of GA). Health curriculum and international students must purchase coverage, for other students, insurance is available on a voluntary basis. Dependent coverage is available too. I think the cost per student only, is around $870 per semester.

https://www.uhcsr.com/SelfServiceSup...llegeHome.aspx

Pulaski

Cheap insurance usually means high deductibles or extremely restrictive in-network coverage.

It wouldn't surprise me if the "in-network coverage" was confined to the county where the community college was located.

petitefrancaise

certainly in Austin, it seems to be quite a good deal. The college is able to negotiate with the insurance companies due to sheer numbers involved. I checked with a friend who teaches there and she says it's the same policy for everyone - students and staff.

scrubbedexpat099

An Insurance Company in this sort of situation would be an administrator, at best they may provide cat cover. The major variable is the costs charged by the providers.

If the premiums are flat rated and the majority of the insured group is young and relatively healthy then piggybacking is likely to be a much cheaper option. Basically the cost saving to you is spread amongst the many.

Pulaski

In other words, the pool is a very low risk pool, with not much chance of expensive cancer treatment or heart surgery.

BTW what is "cat cover"?

scrubbedexpat099

Catastrophic cover, in case you get a few very expensive claims for example that are out of the norm and screw up your forecasted claims.

Not sure how big this group is, but the bigger it is then the fewer outliers will have an impact. The programme design should be able to move your anticipated spend.

Having holes in your programme like this may not be significant assuming very few people know about it, take advantage of it. If it becomes significant then there are obviously ways to control it.

Pulaski

So ironically, given PF's issues with US health insurance, allowing insurers to cherry-pick an inherently low risk pool of customers like this undermined the attempts of the Affordable Care Act to spread the cost of insurance across the entire population.

scrubbedexpat099

You would expect Students to be pretty much at the bottom of the cost profile, and even adding mature students may not make much difference.

Staff will be older and are being subsidised by Students.

Sort of similar to having a cover for Motor Insurance for 50 year olds and allowing a 18 year old with a Ferrari to benefit.

Bob

Possibly join a industry group and get it through them?

I know some folks who joined the IGDA when they offered medical insurance, which is about $50 a year dues but they don't check that you're a game developer...it's a glorified student group at the end of the day as it's a pointless organisation, but it worked for looks looking for insurance.

No idea if they still offer it though, or if they have tightened up requirements to join the organisation.

scrubbedexpat099

https://www.hubinternational.com/pro...s-association/

Nothing to suggest it would be cheap, you might get a small group discount but then how important that is depends on the underlying premiums.

If it is 25% more expensive for you but you get a 20% discount you are back where you started.

Might of course be a low risk group, supposing the average member rarely gets out of their Parent's basement?