So you’re at a pool party with your friends when someone dares you to do THE back flip to end all back flips into the pool. AND it was a double dog dare. So, you climb up onto the roof of the house and look down at the pool twenty feet below you. Your heart is pounding, but since everyone’s cheering you on, this is no time to back down. Here it goes. You push off, letting your feet fly up over your head. Everyone cheers! Damn, you feel like a champ. You wait for the cool water to smack your feet…except that you miss the pool by two feet and shatter your right leg on the hard pavement.

OWWWW! While your friends stare at your suddenly misshapen leg, someone gets the bright idea to call 911. An ambulance comes, and you gratefully thank the paramedics as you ride to the hospital. But when a paramedic asks what your insurance is, you shrug. They look at each other and shake their heads. Then, while the ambulance is still driving, they open up the back door and push you out. When you stop rolling on the pavement, you notice the paramedics waving happily at you.

Ok, so the paramedics won’t push you out if you are in an emergency and don’t have health insurance, but you WILL get a huge bill at the hospital that could have been reduced if you were covered by insurance.

Most young adults understand that their doctor and guardian(s) took care of health care while growing up.  How it got paid for?  A mystery.  Even though health insurance is all over the news, there are still all these weird terms associated with health care. The whole thing seems just too complicated. Besides, most young adults think they are going to stay healthy for a while and won’t need to see a doctor. Doctors are for OLD people.

But, like the example above, people can be pretty dumb sometimes and get hurt so badly they need to go to the hospital.  (People that are not dumb also get hurt!)  But even if you take care of your body, you may still get so sick you need to see a doctor. Being around young people means a lot of diseases spread around…in a variety of ways.

Maybe you already have health insurance but want to know what exactly you have, or maybe you’re just confused about the whole health insurance game. Or maybe you don’t have health insurance and want to look around for a plan, but all the terms and conditions of different plans are starting to make you sick (pun intended).

Fortunately, we here at financialfootprint want to help. It’s time for your financial checkup. First, you should understand how health insurance works. Then you will find out where to get health insurance. After that, you will see all the different types of health insurance. We’ll also cover the Affordable Care Act.

Remember, you may be healthy now, but someday you are going to get sick, get in an accident or do something stupid. You know it. We aren’t saying to actually DO something stupid, but it helps to insure your butt when things go wrong.