Alternatives to Student Health Insurance Plan

We have a rising senior in college in MI. We live in AZ. We (parents) have a high deductible (5K pp/10K per family) Blue Cross plan through an employer. The Blue Cross plan is also very expensive. We don’t have any pharmacy co-pays so we pay for prescriptions unless and until we reach the $5K deductible.

When kid started college, we enrolled him in the college’s student health insurance plan, which offered a United Healthcare PPO. The college plan was, comparatively speaking, much more reasonably priced (started around $1600 freshman year and was $1800 last year). Plenty of in network providers here in AZ and the pharmacy benefits worked fine at home. But we just got notice of the plan for the 2022/2023 school year, which starts 8/1. The cost has gone down but so have the benefits. The network is called Cofinity and there are no in network providers outside of MI. Out of network the benefits are 60% coinsurance after a $600 deductible. There is emergency and urgent care coverage, which I believe is required by the AHA. It looks like the pharmacy benefits work OOS at some of our local pharmacies.

He is very likely to move back to AZ after graduation, and he’s been mostly continuing to see doctors here in AZ when home on breaks. I know we could put him back on our Blue Cross plan but given the high premium and $5K deductible, I think we’re better off dealing with the SHIP plan and it’s crummy out of network benefits. I know he’ll resist finding new doctors in MI and probably neglect care there. Any other alternatives? Is it worth looking at the health care exchange?

[quote=“Corinthian, post:1, topic:3613680”] Is it worth looking at the health care exchange?
[/quote]

It might be worth checking IF he meets the minimum income requirement to qualify for an ACA plan. In addition, I think you will find that he will get coverage in one state, but not another as (in our experience) these plans were very state dependent I believe most of the time.

If your employer plan is one that covers him in both states…at least he would have coverage in both states…

Its a shame UHC isn’t providing a better option for you. That’s what our kid’s college plan was BUT it did have in network coverage all over the place (perhaps because the school was a professional school where students did elective rotations all over the place…and not in one state).

UHC was totally fine. The problem is that we don’t have that option anymore. The new plan is Cofinity and only MI providers in network.

what is uhc?

United Healthcare – I was referring to their provider network.

I was looking at a college my high school junior is interested in and I think the health insurance cost is around $2500. I noticed in the college’s website that they are directing people to the health care exchange, noting they understand the cost is high.

I was used to about $1600 from an older child. She had medical issues and it was cheaper than our OOS deductible. Now we don’t have the option. No OOS benefits at all.

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