Prescription drug insurance
originally posted: 11/22/2006 reposted: 2/18/2011 This post has not been recently reviewed or revised by the author and may be out of date. If in doubt, please send a new question or ask for an update.
Q: I need health insurance when I graduate that covers my prescriptions.
A: You might need to modify your approach. Remember that health insurance policies that can be purchased by individuals generally does not cover pre-existing medical conditions. So any prescription drug expense that you already know about indicates that there is an underlying pre-existing medical condition. This is not an issue for employer-provided group insurance, but this is a major limitation of individual health insurance. Of course, the individual insurance is much less expensive, especially for a recent graduate. It generally makes sense to purchase a low cost insurance rather than seek out one of the very expensive insurance plans that covers prescriptions. With the $300-$400/month savings in premium expense, you could probably afford to cover the prescription expense. The "Secure STM" plan includes a discount prescription drug card at no extra charge that can be used to reduce the out-of-pocket cost of your current medication. This is a high quality insurance that is popular with college graduates that can be extended up to 3 years. If you really must have the prescription drug insurance and the discount card will not suffice, then consider a prescription insurance plan that is separate from your major medical insurance.
Summary
More resources:
Low cost health insurance listings at FreedomBenefits.net