Welcome to another installment of "Tell that to your Claims Adjuster," a weekly column that offers insurance advice from a man with more insurance war stories than he cares to admit. Yes, friends, hopefully my tales of woe will help you avoid the many insurance pitfalls I encountered as a swashbuckling yet ill-advised youth.
Sponsor Link
Get up to $150,000 of term life coverage in less than 15 Minutes.
In this week's column, I will discuss a new and convenient service offered by many insurance companies - same day insurance.
Why Immediate Insurance? One Word: Healthcare
Ok, so here's my story. I blush a bit while writing, but I'll forge ahead, because I am armed with the knowledge that you will all benefit from my stupidity.
I had just graduated from college, and for the first time, I was pretty much on my own. While in college, my healthcare coverage came from my parent's family plan, meaning that I never really thought or cared about health insurance.
My mom, knowing that I could no longer receive coverage on my family's plan after graduation, warned me repeatedly to start looking for health insurance coverage. Like many guys my age, I barely ever got sick. With school ending, I had many other things on my plate that took precedence over finding health insurance - the job search, saying goodbye to friends, etc. Needless to say, I forgot to buy health insurance, and my family coverage expired.
A few weeks later, I was still in limbo, living in my college town and working some odd jobs to make enough money for rent, ramen noodles, and the other essentials in life. One day, while playing a game of football with some friends, I was tackled mercilessly by an overzealous frat boy. He ended up spraining my ankle, necessitating an emergency room visit.
After emerging with a splint and a bruised ego, I had to deal with the emergency room billing folks. They were very impressed when I nonchalantly handed them my expired insurance card. They were so impressed, in fact, that they charged me full price for the emergency visit, which I had to put on my already overloaded credit card. Ouch!
Had I only known about Immediate Insurance Coverage
Rest assured the next thing I did was go online and look for health insurance. What I found was pretty cool, and made me feel even worse about letting my old coverage expire.
I found that with some online insurance companies, it is possible to search for a plan, receive an estimate, and get coverage all in the same day. This immediate insurance coverage is possible because companies can run your numbers - age, weight, habits, etc - through some formulas/databases in seconds, and determine whether you are eligible for coverage.
When my mom was bugging me to get coverage, I always dreaded some long, drawn out process that would take tons of time. This simply was not the case, and I was able to get a decent plan in a few hours.
Immediate Health Insurance - No Reason to Put it Off
Take it from a guy that loves to procrastinate. There is no reason not to go online and get some immediate health insurance. You can literally do it in between reading emails from your buddies. With this new same day insurance service offered through many online sites, the computers do most of the grunt work, while you just fill out a few forms and hand over a small premium.
About the Author
Kirk Bangstad is an artist, manager, and singer working in Chicago, IL. His previous experience includes consulting for technology companies in the Silicon Valley and serving as a field director and publicist for a statewide political campaign. Kirk holds a B.A. in government from Harvard University.
