Hi, I recently took in my little sisters ages 20, 18, and 14. I'm 24. I am so confused about how to get health insurance or what a good price is. My job pays for my health insurance so I've never really looked into it but to add on my dependents I found out it would be $450 a month. Does this seem about right to you? The 20 year old does have a heart condition that would require some specialist so I'm not sure if that's even considered when trying to apply for insurance somewhere other than my job. I know pretty much nothing about insurance and this is all pretty confusing and stressful to me. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Are they officially our dependents? Depending on the circumstances, the 14 year old might qualify for some social services. I'm honestly not sure about the other two. Are they students?

Good luck.

Hi Curvycurly, I don't live in California so I can't help you there. Just wanted to give you hugs for being so young and having a lot of responsibilities on your plate dealing with this. I hope someone chimes in here with info for you, there are quite a few posters from CA and so many helpful people here. Good luck, sweety.

First, what a truly kind and loving thing to do. This is a tremendous responsibility for anyone, let alone someone who is as young as you are.

My suggestion would be to make an appointment with your HR department to get information. If there's no one there who is knowledgeable on the topic, ask to talk to someone at the insurance company. The rate sounds fair, but make sure that it actually covers the 20 and 18 year olds as they are of age and you might have to show evidence that you are the sole provider for both of them. Pre-existing conditions now have to be covered by insurance providers so your sister's heart condition shouldn't be a factor.

The suggestion to contact state agencies is a good one as well. Your youngest sister may very well be eligible for assistance. They may also be able to provide guidance as to whether your siblings are eligible for Social Security (yes, depending on the circumstances, children can receive Social Security).

And, I'd start searching on the Internet for info as most states provide a lot of information there. Sorry to not be able to provide you with more answers.

I have legal guardianship now of the youngest. I know she's going to be the easiest to get insurance for. Its the other two that I'm just not sure about. They are both students. One does work but her job doesn't offer health insurance.

Thanks elvis!

Unfortunately, pre-existing conditions are still taken into account when seeking non-group health plans (outside of work plan). They can't deny you for it, but your rates can be adjusted accordingly. I have purchased personal health insurance off of e-healthinsurance.com a couple of times. (Once in California- I got Blue Cross Blue Shield.)

The quotes are free and you can compare them to your plan at work. But yes...health insurance is very expensive, especially with dependents. I pay over $300 a month for just me!

Do you have multiple plans you can choose from at work?

If the 18 and 20 year olds are college students, sometimes colleges have insurance available for students. It's not usually the most comprehensive but certainly better than nothing and may be less expensive. Depending on whether they are working or not they might also qualify for Medi-Cal (Medicaid) - if they are not officially your dependents, then I think they might be eligible based on their own (lack of) income. I'm not sure about this, but it might be worth looking into. Figuring this all out is going to be a big project.

You are a wonderful sister to take this on.