Would it be better to buy health insurance before or after the new health care legislation passes?

I'm a healthy young person with no pressing need for any health care right now. I want to buy health insurance, but I don't know if I should wait until after the health care legislation passes.





Will premiums likely be higher or lower afterwards? Will I be able to cross state lines to buy health insurance afterwards? These are just two examples, but I'm interested in ANY factors.





Thanks!|||It doesn't matter, because the insurance companies have already started raising rates in anticipation. Our group insurance went up 23% this Jan. Does anyone really think costs went up 23%? No, they're preparing for when cost-cutting measures will be law and they can't raise costs 23% in a year with 0% inflation.





The real question is what would you do if you were involved in a car crash now and didn't have any health insurance? People are injured and killed on the roads every day through no fault of their own (wrong-way driver killed 2 people yesterday in Atl.) Think ahead and decide how much risk you can bear, then purchase insurance or not. If you have enough money to cover potential medical expenses, you don't need it. If not, you do need it.|||You cannot wait on legislation. There is no quarantee anything will come out of that at this point. No one knows what it will bring.





You are healthy now and young as you stated. You really should get insurance now while you are young and healthy. The rates are much more reasonable at this point in your life, but most importantly you are insurable at this point in your life. If you wait and then you do develop something, you may not be able to find anything you can afford or that will even insure you. Once you have a policy, if you do develop something you will already have it and have coverage.





Do the right thing now and later in life you will be greatful that you did!|||Nobody really knows the answer to your questions because the final bill hasn't been presented as of yet. The Rebulicans want to be able to buy across state lines but the Democrats don't and they're not listening to anything the Republicans say, and buying across state lines has not previously been in any versions of the bill. Anyone that knows anything about health insurance will tell you that the premiums will go up because there is little in the bill that actually reduces health care costs. However, don't hold your breath because if and when the bill passes the only immediate effect will be an increase in taxes; the insurance won't be available until 2014. The current projections are 10 years of taxes to pay for 6 years of benefits.|||No one knows what the premiums might be in a specific insurance plan on an insurance exchange. They have to pass a Senate bill, then merge the House and Senate bills, and even when it is finally signed, most parts of the plan won't start until 2014 because there isnt enough money yet to pay for it even though some taxes will be implemented right away.





Even if you buy a policy in another state because it is cheaper, maybe it won't pay as much benefit to cover costs as one in your own state. Maybe the cheaper policy rates will increase if everyone rushes to buy them. That idea wont reduce premiums in every state. The problem is the health insurance monopoly to knock out competition within a state or region and their exemption to anti-trust law.|||If I knew the answers to your specific questions I could make millions. Buy health insurance with a deductible of at least $1,000. If I, as a taxpayer, am forced to pay your premium through higher taxes and the premium is lower that what would be your current policy and the benefits are better drop it an put your nose in the public trough like the rest of the nation.|||At the rate things are going, even if you are a healthy young person, you will not live long enough without insurance to buy it after the legislation passes. It could take decades, or centuries for the government to finish this. Legislation prohibiting increases in Congressional pay from taking effect until after the next election was proposed approximately 220 years ago and was only ratified recently.|||You do realize, don't you, that once you have a pressing need for health care, it's too late to buy insurance, right?





Premiums will go up, if this passes. You won't be able to cross state lines, without massive changes to health care, which are NOT currently written into any bills, so don't hold your breath on that.





Lastly, keep in mind, that the current bills, increase taxes NOW, but don't make any of the changes effective until 2013. Plenty of time to repeal those changes!