By Brian Burrell

Summer is over and it’s time to go back to school.  With everything on your back to school checklist, don’t forget to think about health care.  Although the trend has decreased since changes to dependent coverage, 23 percent of young adults between the ages of 18 to 25 are still uninsured.

But the new provisions from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may have changed your health insurance options. For example, starting August 1st, insurance plans are now required to cover birth control. And although some provisions for the ACA don’t start until 2014, there are still many options you can take advantage of now.

Your Parent’s Plan

Just because you can legally vote doesn’t mean you don’t still need mom and dad. If you’re in school, other insurance can be unaffordable or hard to find, but staying on a parent’s plan is easy, and insurance plans are now required to allow children and young adults to stay on their parent’s plan until they’re 26. Since 2010, 3.1 million young adults have received health insurance through their parents’ plans.

• If your parents have health insurance, this will probably be the cheapest option.
• Many plans allow parents to add young adults for a small cost. In some cases, if your siblings are on the plan, it won’t cost extra.
• You can stay on the plan regardless of whether of not you live in another state, are married, or aren’t a student.

Student Health Plans

As of August 1st, your school’s health plan offers some major changes. Student health insurance plans are now regulated like all other insurance plans.  In the past, the limited scope of student health insurance left many students deciding between going into debt or staying sick. When 2014 rolls around, it won’t matter how sick you get or how expensive your medical treatments will be, you’ll be covered by your student plan.

Here’s what applies right now:

• Student plans are now required to raise their annual cap on prescription drugs and general health coverage to $100,000, meaning they can’t cut off paying anything up to that amount if you get really sick.
•   Student plans allow you to get free annual exams, free breast exams and free STD testing and free birth control.
• The price of your plan may fluctuate. Some have gone slightly down because insurance now must spend 80 percent of your premiums on care, not profit.  Others have gone slightly up because they didn’t cover much before.

Student Health Centers: Even if you don’t have a student health insurance plan, your school fees often give you access to the services your student health center provides.

• Regardless of whether or not you have health insurance, find out what services your health center provides and compare to off-campus services.
• Many health centers offer checkups, basic services and STD testing all for a small fee.
• Many of these centers also offer health  & wellness information and nutrition trainings.

Buy Private Insurance

If no other options work, you can check out some individual insurance plans on places like healthcare.gov or ehealthinsurance.com.  Make sure to check out how high the deductible will be, and which services the plan covers.

Community Health Centers

If you commute to school or just need affordable health services, community health centers are a good option.

• These clinics offer regular doctor services but operate on a sliding scale for payment.
• That means if your income is below a certain amount, your visit could be free. Use this locator to find service providers closest to you and call ahead to find out what you’ll have to pay, if anything at all.

Medicaid: In 2014, many states will be expanding Medicaid to those who qualify.  Until then, you may be able to use CHIP up until age 19.  If you’re pregnant you can likely get health insurance for you and your child once he/she is born; however, check with your state Medicaid department to see if they offer Medicaid to young adults and find out how to enroll.