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Ryan Healy is a recent college graduate. He is a founder of 
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About a month ago, my brother, Dan, was in the hospital. Originally, the doctors told him he had a small cut, and he should use some Neosporin to prevent infection. A couple of days later, they told him he had a staff infection. Staff infections are bad, but for my brother they are especially bad.
Dan was born with congenital heart disease, and any type of infection could be life-threatening. My parents hopped in the car and made the 10-hour drive from Connecticut to Columbus, OH. According to my parents, the three days in the Columbus hospital were like a bad episode of House. Nobody knew exactly what was wrong. The infectious disease doctors were in and out of his room every day.
Eventually, Dan was released from the hospital. The antibiotics killed the infection before it could spread. Regardless, the whole experience was incredibly scary for all of us. And it really made me nervous to ditch my corporate job with benefits to work at a startup with no health insurance.
But my mind was made up and sticking with my job was not an option. So the first thing I did was schedule a physical. I crossed my fingers and went into the doctors office, hoping there was nothing wrong. At first glance I was fine.
The doctor than asked if I wanted to have some blood tests done to test for HIV, hepatitis and whatever else they test. It sounded like a good idea at the time, so I strapped in and gave some blood. I regretted the decision immediately. If I tested positive for anything, private health insurance would go from expensive to completely unaffordable.
Luckily, everything turned out fine. But you know there is something wrong with the health care system when putting off being tested for a life-threatening disease for a few months is a “smart” financial option.
After the blood tests, the doctor asked if I wanted to have my cholesterol checked. Despite my mother constantly reminding me of my family’s high cholesterol, I declined for fear of an unusually high test and in turn, higher future health care costs. Finally, before leaving, I requested a tetanus shot even though I was 99 percent positive that it wasn’t necessary.
Buying fitted running shoes was next on my list. I try to run four to five times per week and my legs were beginning to bother me. It was definitely time for a new pair of shoes. But a week before you quit your job to pursue something with no immediate stream of income is not a great time to drop $100 on shoes.
After some thought, I realized that $100 now could be the only thing saving me from a stress fracture or another common running injury, which could end up saving me thousands in future uninsured medical costs.
After doing everything I could think of to prepare for life without insurance, a buddy of mine told me about a program that covers 80 percent of all medical expenses after a $500 deductible for “healthy” 23-year-old guys. It’s certainly not free, but all things considered, it’s a really good deal. (I plan to actually purchase the plan this week, so if anyone knows of a better deal, please let me know!)
Still, I’m lucky that I don’t have any preexisting medical conditions. I’m lucky I am not on any prescription drugs and I’m lucky to have tested negative for any diseases. Not everyone will be able to get such a good deal, and that’s a big problem.
My brother has full intentions of continuing his own business and starting companies for years to come, but he is going to have to take some major risks once he is off of my parents’ insurance policy.
Whether this means purchasing a catastrophic plan, borrowing money or completely going off of insurance, he will figure it out and I will help however I can. Because dropping everything to chase a dream might sound risky, but in my book, working a dead-end job for fear of not having health coverage is much riskier.
Cross-posted at The Brazen Careerist
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Thank you so much for writing about this. I have allergies and asthma and sold my soul for health insurance in the years following graduation. Eventually my partner (now my husband) got a job that paid domestic partner benefits, which made it possible for me to start thinking about going out on my own. It worked out ok for me, but a girl shouldn’t have to co-habitate just to get affordable health insurance!
Ryan,
Thanks for sharing this story. At the risk of sounding crass and uncaring; welcome to the real world! This is the exact reason why as we get older our priorities change. It’s not that we want to ‘grow up’ and have more responsibility, it just happens. As a twentysomething you have the ability (and great one at that) and freedom to make choices and take risks. I’m glad your doing so, but know it won’t last. In a few years when you have a mortgage maybe a spouse it will get a little tougher to make these choices. A few years after that when you start a family it gets even tougher and the option to not have health insurance isn’t an option anymore. But take heart, as an early Gen Xer I can tell you that desire to take risks and venture out on your own won’t die. As I began planning to start my own company I’ve been amazed at how many of my colleagues in the same place in life are doing the same. The dream lives on, if just a bit more complex. So go forth and suck the marrow out of life!
Ryan -
Until someone starts a co-op model of healthcare coverage purchasing for people leaving jobs with benefits (or those whose employers no longer provide coverage due to astronomical costs), the only thing I can recommend is getting a prescription discount card in-hand in addition to your catastrophic coverage/HSA plan.That and making friends with some med school students and nurses.
While there may be a delay in the time ’services’ are rendered til you actually have to cough up the cash if something happens and you go in through the ER, if you need meds too it’s a different story.
Plans offering prescription drug cards are plentiful, but check out www.medbankus.org for one example (the Montel Williams’ headed PPRx is another). Full disclosure: I’m on the Board (volunteer) at MEDBANK of MD, a nonprofit who provides prescription assistance for Maryland residents with no age limit. I know however that there are other orgs like this nationwide, but most of us Gen X, Yers and Millenials don’t know much about this type of assistance until we need it - badly.
I’m 27 and love the blog - best of luck with branching out!
Great article Ryan. Health insurance is a big deal when people are between jobs and I liked hearing about your experience. It is especially true we forget about preventative care, like proper shoes, that really would serve us best in the long run.
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Carlita - It really is a problem that someone with a spouse or kids must depend on their partner to have some type of company insurance plan, just so the other person can pursue a dream.
Scott - Im well aware that priorities change as you enter new life stages, and that is why your twenties is the time to chase the dream. If you can chase it now and find a way to succeed, you wont need to worry about how to pursue your goals and balance a family. You will already know how.
Jen - Thanks for the tip, and thanks for the support!
Presh - Thanks. The preventative care issue is probably overlooked by most people, but you’re right it can end up being extremely important.
Have you looked into Tonik plans by Blue Cross? I don’t know where all they have coverage, but they have it here (in Georgia). They have 3 really easy to understand plans with the differences spelled out well on their website. They quoted me $91 a month. (Healthy 27 y.o. female). This is for actual insurance, not just a catastrophe plan.
Maybe this would be good to look into? We can’t count on employee-plans anymore… Too expensive, and none of us stay at one company forever like our parents did. This type of plan doesn’t depend on being part of a “group” plan.
Just a tip… Keep the great blogs coming!
Amanda
Make sure you find yourself something, even if it means severe hardship in other areas. Do NOT count on your youth protecting you.
I’m 22 years old, and at 19 I had several unexplained fevers that doctors didn’t think much of. A couple months later it hurt to breathe in very deeply and I went to the urgent care center…and found out that I had a tumor the size of a grapefruit in my chest and that half the lymph nodes in my upper body were cancerous. I had to have surgery and six months of chemo and then PET/CT scans ($5k-$15k each) every three months for years. And immune-boosting drugs injections that were $500 each - every single day. If I had not been in college under my parents’ insurance at the time, I would either have died or have started adult life under such crippling debt that I would have had no options open to me.
There are a lot of risks that are okay to take when we’re young. Health is not an acceptable risk.
It’s amazing how great and affordable health care is in this country, as long as you’re absolutely healthy and always will be.