This website has already discussed how students may have a difficult time paying for medical costs, since they have little disposable income. Of course, medical expenses may impose an unexpected hardship on people, and students are oftentimes affected the most by medical expenses because they do not have steady income. In addition, dealing with medical costs and student loans can be especially difficult for many student debt borrowers. However, by keeping a few things in mind, it can be easier to contend with medical expenses while at the same time paying off student loans.
During my student debt repayment saga, I fortunately did not need to spend significant sums of money on medical costs. Dealing with medical costs and student loans was also easier for me, since all of the employers I worked for had pretty good health insurance. Most of the jobs where I worked had health insurance that covered a number of procedures, and my employers subsidized the cost of the health insurance, which was extremely helpful.
My health insurance paid for all of the costs of my annual checkups, which saved me hundreds of dollars each year. In addition, the last employer I worked for while paying off student loans also paid for dental and vision care, so my annual checkups with those providers were also covered. As a result, I saved a substantial amount of money on medical expenses while paying off student loans, since I worked at jobs that paid for some of the medical costs I would have otherwise had to pay out-of-pocket.
In addition dealing with medical costs and student loans was also easier for me at a few of my jobs because of health savings accounts. A health savings account is basically an account where money is deposited tax free, and these funds can only be used for medical expenses. These types of accounts are usually only available if you have a high deductible health insurance plan, and I selected this plan since it was the least amount of money anyways.
However, at a few of my jobs, employers put a few thousand dollars into the health savings accounts of employees. The best thing was that if these funds were not used in a given year, the funds would be rolled over for use in the future. Since I never used all of the funds I received each year, I had a significant amount of money in my health savings account when I quit my job to start my own law firm. This money came in handy, since I was able to use it on health insurance premiums and other expenses when I opened my own law firm, which meant I could free up money to devote to living expenses and other costs.
Another strategy I employed while dealing with medical costs and student loans was to never pay for COBRA. As many people know, COBRA is when you leave an employer but you are entitled to the same health benefits your previous employer provided to you so long as you pay for the costs yourself. I changed jobs several times during my student debt repayment saga, and it usually took some time to be enrolled in my new employer’s healthcare plan. As a result, I needed to bridge the gap in health insurance.
I discovered that if I shopped for health insurance myself, the coverage would cost several hundred dollars a month less than the COBRA coverage. I therefore elected to obtain short-term health insurance and saved substantial money on medical expenses. Of course, certain people have significant medical conditions, and cannot do without the more extensive health insurance coverage provided by a prior employer. However, if you only need basic health insurance coverage, dealing with medical costs and student loans can be easier if you purchase short-term health insurance on your own.
I didn’t always make the right moves when dealing with medical costs and student loans. For instance, I did not always take full advantage of the medical benefits provided by my employer, and this cost me hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Indeed, I never enrolled in the cheap dental insurance plan provided by my employers. I hadn’t needed extensive dental work in my life, so I figured I could do without this coverage. However, while paying off student loans, I needed to pay for a few dental procedures that cost a significant sum of money. Since I did not have insurance, I had to go out-of pocket for these expenses, and I could have lowered my costs if I had purchased this insurance.
In addition, I sometimes did not research all of the medical benefits provided by the insurance coverage I did purchase through my employer. For instance, I did not realize that my medical insurance provided some benefits when I went to the optometrist. Indeed, I could have had some of the cost of my visits paid for and I believe that I could have had part of the costs of glasses covered as well. It was only after a few years that a coworker told me about this benefit, and I could have saved hundreds of dollars if I knew about this benefit earlier.
In the end, dealing with medical costs and student loans can be easier when you do your research and plan ahead. So long as you investigate health insurance plans, and understand the benefits of the insurance plans in which you enroll, you can save the most amount of money possible on medical costs.