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Erin graduated from college in May 2008 and was surprised at the lack of resources for college students about what the transition into the "real world" is really like. In an effort to share her experience as a recent college graduate and create a resource for college students and recent grads, she created College Grad Lessons.

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Switching From Your Parents’ Insurance To Your Own

I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days, so yesterday I decided to make a doctor appointment. Sounds easy enough, but then I realized that I had new health insurance (my own instead of my parents’ insurance) and no doctor where I live now. One of my housemates told me I just needed to call a doctor’s office, ask if they were taking new patients, make sure they took my insurance and set up an appointment. Two problems I ran into: places weren’t taking new patients and other places were booked for the next couple days. I finally found a place that was taking new patients and could see me the next day, but I wish I had set up a new doctor before I got sick.

Here is what I would suggest for when you get your own health insurance (and hopefully before you get sick):

  1. As soon as you have your health insurance information and card, ask friends and family in the area if they have a doctor they would recommend. Also, check your insurance company’s Web site or call them to see if they recommend doctors.
  2. Google the doctors. There are lots of Web sites that rate doctors. The doctor might also have a Web site for their practice.
  3. Once you have a sense of who your top choices are, start calling them. Ask if they are taking new patients and confirm that they take your health insurance. If you have any questions about the doctor or the services they provide, be sure to ask those as well.
  4. Once you’ve picked a doctor, contact your previous doctor about obtaining your medical records. Also, ask your new doctor if there is any paperwork you can go ahead and fill out.
  5. If you haven’t had a physical in a while, you might want to consider setting up an appointment with your new doctor. This gives you a chance to meet the doctor and also make sure that you’re healthy.

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions by commenting on this post!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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