Health Insurance for Families

There’s a big misunderstanding bordering on myth about the health marketplace in Utah and it goes like this: most of the people who signed up for insurance were older and had pre-existing conditions and that young Utahns would skip buying health insurance and elect to pay the small first year penalty.

But the numbers in 2014 and 2015 tell a much different story.

According to an article published in the February issue of Utah Business magazine, the majority Utahns who enrolled the health insurance marketplace in 2014 were young. 45,000 of them signed up in the last month of the enrollment period, and that’s more than half of the total number of Utahns who enrolled.

Here’s a very good example:

Insure for Health found a great insurance plan for a young couple just starting out in life. The new bride is 18, her husband is 21 and has a good job in construction. Prior to their marriage, he was covered under his dad’s health insurance policy; under federal law children can stay on their parent’s health insurance until they turn 26. Unfortunately, his dad’s health insurance had a $10,000 dollar deductible. That means his father had to cough up $10,000 dollars in cash to pay the surgeon, the hospital, the nurses, the anesthesiologist, the physical therapist BEFORE the health insurance coverage kicked in.

When I met with this young couple, we found a plan with $0 deductible, $4500 out of pocket maximum, and a premium that covers both of them for $33.84 a month. That’s health insurance this young couple can afford.

And it’s another example of why every family needs health insurance, younger, older or somewhere in between. We can help you find the right plan for your family, too.