So you just graduated college and heading into a steep job market where salaries aren’t increasing with a slow economy and you are already in debt with credit card bills and student loans. You want your own apartment and that included putting food in the refrigerator, paying for utilities, etc.. Is the cost of health insurance in your budget? Have you even considered that cost yet?

Many upcoming graduates don’t have a clue as how the health insurance market works and how it stands and where its headed. Protecting your health is probably the first thing you want to do if you have no coverage whatsoever and your parents have taken you out of their policy.

In a article written by Solana Pyne, she states, "the number of uninsured young adults has grown at twice the rate of older adults". She goes on by stating, "the most recent year for which statistics are available—an increase of 1.2 million from the year before. Half were uninsured for some part of 2002. Of the 43.6 million uninsured adults in the U.S., 41 percent are young."

Premiums for young adults between the ages of 22-27 can range from $40-$300 depending on what policy’s you are looking at PPOs tend to cost more and premiums are decided based on deductibles, co-insurance, and co-pays. HMO’s are you more affordable ones and are as well decided on those three factors.

The healthcare industry is a big part of the U.S. economy and universal healthcare is far from even considering it in this country. If the U.S. can help out companies to provide health coverage to all their employee’s, that would be a start.

As you enter the "real world", start considering the costs of your healthcare and budget yourself so you can afford to take out a policy to attain some type of coverage and be covered. After all, any coverage is good coverage as long as when you are hospitalized, you have an insurance company behind you supporting your high medical costs.