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Open For Business

By David Levitus

You know, there’s nothing worse than that sinking feeling of uncertainty.

When my grad program ended and I hadn’t started kicking ass at YI yet, I struggled to figure out what to do about my health insurance.

I was lucky—there were a couple months cushion, so I didn’t have to come up with a solution right away, but the uncertainty kind of haunted me.

I looked into short-term plans and ultimately signed up for one, but it wasn’t cheap, the coverage wasn’t great and it came from a no-name company who wouldn’t guarantee re-enrollment after a few months.

Buying longer-term coverage would have been a better bet, but it was tough. There were a million questions about my pre-existing conditions. How the heck was I supposed to know the name of the doctor at the ER who removed my appendix 15 months ago?

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http://gifrific.com/louis-c-k-scratching-his-head/

As happy as I am to be working at YI, I’m even happier that people in every state can now sign up for health insurance without having to answer intrusive, tough to figure out questions about their medical history.

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http://giphy.com/gifs/xb8zoHFCKU0Ra/

In our generation, 1 in 6 people has a pre-existing health condition, and before October 1st, it was nearly impossible to get affordable insurance, if they were lucky enough to be approved for insurance at all. But that’s all changing.

Open enrollment in the insurance marketplaces started October 1st and the plans kick into effect the first day of 2014.

Even better—more than 2 out of 3 uninsured young adults should be eligible for either subsidies to help make the cost of buying insurance manageable or Medicaid, whether you have a chronic condition or not.

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http://giphy.com/gifs/DDDby1V8usCvC/

Check out the insurance marketplaces and make sure you can figure out a plan to get covered soon. There have been tech glitches with the websites for some states, but they’re improving every day and the marketplaces already work really well in many places. The bottom line is that these new plans are worth waiting for—they mean you’ll have insurance that covers essential health services when you need them the most.

Want more info? Check out health.younginvincibles.org.