What are some basic insurances that I should take?

I'm hearing some really BAD answers here--if you're 20 years old, WHO would you need to buy life insurance FOR? It's not for you, after all, you'd have to be dead to collect it. It's for a spouse and children you leave behind, and you have neither spouse NOR children. And the guy who said 'so it'll be there for your PARENTS??' Phh!That has to be an insurance salesman talking!

I forget the words for it, but my husband only got life insurance to cover his family (for mortgage on the house, I forget what else). I think it's called short-term, not sure. But the other kind, where they CLAIM that you get your money back, is a rip-off.

HEALTH INSURANCE: One of my adult children has it, other two do not.

Health insurance, at age 20? That's a tough one. When you get a job, your employer might chip in on it depending on the size of the company, etc. Health insurance will cost you $1,000s/year. Chances are you're too healthy to need it. But then again, if you're in a car accident and legally you're at fault, your car insurance won't cover you--it only covers liability for other people you might have injured, and uninsured motorist coverage.

Two of my children, ages 23 and 27, are currently uninsured medically. Luckily, there have been no bills--except for this year about $500 worth of dental bills for my son, but that's cheaper than insurance.

HOWEVER, all 3 of my adult children, amazingly, live in east coast cities and do NOT at the moment own or drive cars--they use public transportation--so that takes the car accident risk out of the formula for the most part.

Sorry, I'm sorry, no easy answers about health insurance.. Personally, we feel our children should forget about health insurance until they secure jobs and find out what their employer offers. My oldest daughter has it (and if she plans to have children soon, she needs it). But my son and younger daughter do not have health insurance. They're healthy, and so far the odds have worked in their favor.

BUT COMPLETELY FORGET THE ADVICE ABOUT LIFE INSURANCE--you'd have to die to collect it!

I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MANY bad answers on Yahoo as I see in this posting! (and I wouldn't be surprised it you got personal emails from insurance sellers in the next few days! DO NOT heed them)!

A BIG PS: Personal story:
LET ME ADD THIS ONE MORE BIT OF INFORMATION. Last Jan. my father-in-law (Grandpa to me) passed away at age 87.His will, a somewhat substantial amount of money, is still being processed.But last week,out of the blue,we received a check for $4,000. It was like, HUH? Where did THIS come from? It was from Grandpa's LIFE INSURANCE policy. Now, why my intelligent engineer father-in-law would be carrying life insurance at age 87 is beyond us all. We figure he bought it eons ago and just never bothered to re-think it. But an 87 yo widower with over $1mil in assets? But life insurance-wise?! Figure-4 kids x $4,000 for a total of $16,000 payback? He must have bought it when he was young! YOU CAN BE SURE that for the better part of 87 years, Grandpa payed a WHOLE LOT MORE into that policy than the $16,000 'net' it left to his heirs! So FORGET the long-term life insurance policies, people, they're a rip-off, and people who try to sell such policies to you are RIPPER OFFERS! Invest your money in something more sensible.