Navigating Health Insurance During Internships: A Comprehensive Guide

Landing an internship is an exciting step toward launching your career. However, amidst the excitement of finding housing, preparing for a new city, and getting ready to make a lasting impact on a business, health insurance might not be the first thing on your mind. This article provides a comprehensive guide to navigating health insurance during internships, ensuring you're covered and can focus on your professional development.

Internship Programs: An Opportunity for Growth

Internship programs offer invaluable hands-on learning experiences and the chance to make a real difference in a company. These programs provide an inside look at your desired field, allowing you to work alongside industry experts. Locations for internships often vary based on business needs. As an intern, you'll gain valuable experience and enhance your technical and interpersonal skills.

Health Insurance Considerations for Interns

Thinking about your health insurance might not be on your insurance to-do list as you get ready for an internship. But if you're under 26, still covered by your parents' health insurance and planning on moving to a different state soon, it probably should be. Even though the Affordable Care Act allows individuals under the age of 26 to stay on their parents' health insurance plans, moving out of state could force the young adult off that plan. Even if you're not planning to go to the doctor in the next few months, having insurance in case of an accident or illness is important.

The Impact of Moving Out of State

Even though the Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows individuals under 26 to remain on their parents' health insurance, moving to a different state can complicate matters. For example, a health maintenance organization (HMO) plan typically requires you to stay within the plan's network for coverage. If you move out of state, your parent's HMO plan might not cover you unless you seek care within the original network. A preferred provider organization (PPO) plan offers more flexibility, allowing out-of-network care, but at a higher cost.

Steps to Ensure Continuous Coverage

If you're a young person on your parents' health insurance plan about to move to another state, here are the steps you should take to make sure you're covered:

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Check the Provisions of Your Current Plan: Contact your current insurance provider to determine if you'll be covered under your parents' plan in another state. Even if the policy doesn't cover routine doctor visits, it might offer emergency coverage. This can be a cost-effective option if your move is temporary.
Try to Find Temporary Health Insurance: If your current plan doesn't provide coverage in your new state, consider short-term health insurance. These plans can provide coverage for up to six months, covering emergency care, hospital bills, and doctor visits. However, they may not cover prescription medications or pre-existing conditions. Short-term plans offer quick enrollment and coverage, making them ideal for bridging gaps between regular health insurance plans.
Apply for Regular Health Insurance on Your State's Marketplace: If short-term insurance isn't available in your new location, shop for regular health insurance on your state's marketplace. Moving to a new state qualifies you for a "special enrollment" period, even if open enrollment has ended. You might also qualify for a government subsidy based on your income.

Navigating the Health Insurance Marketplace

When exploring your state's marketplace, check your eligibility for subsidies, choose your desired coverage level, and compare available plans. Third-party sites can help you estimate monthly costs and compare plans. A silver plan is often a good choice for young, healthy individuals.

Example: Shopping for Health Insurance in Washington, D.C.

Consider a 22-year-old recent graduate moving to Washington, D.C. A search on a health insurance marketplace reveals various plans at different metal levels, including catastrophic plans for those under 30. Catastrophic plans have lower monthly premiums but higher deductibles, making them suitable for healthy individuals who don't require frequent medical care. More comprehensive plans, like bronze-level plans, offer lower deductibles but higher monthly premiums.

After deciding between catastrophic and comprehensive coverage, choose a specific insurance company's plan based on your priorities. Coverage can be more affordable and accessible than you think, with resources available to help you make an informed decision.

Employer Responsibilities for Intern Health Insurance

If your organization has an internship program, that’s awesome! Not only are your interns gaining valuable experience and hands-on learning opportunities, but you have built yourself an amazing talent pool to choose full-time hires from, and in the meantime, your company benefits from a fresh, new perspective. If you have hired, or are considering hiring interns at your company, you’ll need to know what the law has to say about their health benefits.

Defining Intern Status

To determine if you're required to offer health insurance to interns, define the scope of their work and their status within your organization. Consider whether the intern is paid, and whether they work full or part-time. The answer to whether you’ll need to provide health insurance to interns will also depend in part on whether your company qualifies as an “ALE,” or Applicable Large Employer under the Affordable Care Act. In brief, an ALE is an employer with an average of at least 50 full-time employees.

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Small Businesses and Intern Health Insurance

If you are not an ACA-defined Applicable Large Employer, you don’t need to offer health insurance to any of your interns, whether they’re full or part-time, paid or unpaid. However, if you choose to offer them insurance, you’ll need to review the terms of your health insurance plan’s plan document. Based on the plan document’s eligibility provisions, you can determine whether your interns fall within those standards for coverage.

Large Employers and Intern Health Insurance

If you are an ACA-defined Applicable Large Employer, the ACA requires you to offer minimum essential coverage to all full-time employees. According to the ACA, a full-time employee is one who works 30 hours or more each week. Those thirty hours, however, must be hours that are either paid or entitled to payment.

Unpaid interns have no hours which are either paid or entitled to payment. Therefore, as an ALE, you are not required to offer unpaid interns health insurance. The same goes with paid interns who only work part-time: ALEs are not required to offer these interns health insurance under the ACA.

If you are an ACA-defined Applicable Large Employer and you have paid, full-time interns, you will only need to offer health insurance if they work longer than the ACA’s maximum 90-day waiting period. Past this period, ALEs should plan to offer coverage to all paid, full-time interns.

Keep in mind that there are many exceptions to these rules, and certainly plenty of intricacies. For example, if your full-time, paid interns came to you through a program sponsored by the federal government, they will likely be excluded from health insurance requirements. And if your interns are 26 years old or younger, and their parents have qualifying insurance, they don’t need always to be offered health insurance, either.

Internship Opportunities with the Iowa Insurance Division

The Iowa Insurance Division (IID) offers a variety of paid internship options for high school, college, and law school students. Interns gain valuable knowledge and insight into the insurance industry, working in a supportive and respectful environment. The IID offers the flexibility to work from home on Mondays and Fridays and report to the office Tuesday-Thursday. Interns will be expected to maintain confidentiality and reflect professionalism in their work product and office appearance as would be expected of any other Iowa Insurance Division employee.

Interns at the Iowa Insurance Division will be able to use this experience to help gain valuable knowledge and insight that can help shape their career goals.

High School Internship Program

The IID has paid internship opportunities available for high school juniors and seniors (at least 16 years old). Interns receive one-on-one mentorship, personalized training, early exposure to a possible career pathway, and the opportunity to earn an Associate Professional in Insurance Regulation Designation.

College Internship Program

The Iowa Insurance Division is participating in the Iowa Economic Development's Insure Your Future Early Stage College Internship Program for college sophomores (college freshmen may also be considered).

World Health Organization (WHO) Internship Program

The World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to building a diverse pool of future leaders in public health through its internship program. To be eligible, applicants must be students (graduate, or postgraduate) in a public health, medical or social field related to the technical work of WHO, or in a management, administrative, communications, or external relations-related field. Individuals who have recently completed their formal qualification (within six months) may also qualify.

Interns do not have the status of WHO staff members and shall not represent the Organization in any official capacity. WHO interns are not eligible for appointment to any non-staff position within WHO for a period of three months following the end of their internship.

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