<p>just as a side note, many of us are on HMO's. Besure to call you insurance carrier to find out what needs to be done and when, to carry your child's insurance with them. </p>
<p>I though I was going to have to pay $1,800 extra to pick up health insurance since our carrier doesn't have network doctors in the state of the school we are considering. </p>
<p>Found out that forms need to be file out and a different medical card will be issued so she can see a doctor in that state. </p>
<p>Be sure to ask what the specifics are and the deadline. (when forms need to be in by, what about if they are home on a break, etc.) </p>
<p>I know I never really though about health insurance coverage until something happened that spurred the though of ' what about when she is in college???"</p>
<p>we opted with d1 to stick with our own insurance, even though she is out of state. she is covered for what she needs and it save a couple G's.
We will most likely do the same for next daughter too</p>
<p>Opposite take here...we are on an HMO and the price for a family is not dependent on number of kids. Since we have our high school daughter still, it doesn't cost us anything more to keep DS who is across country on the plan. But we also pay the plan for his college in MA. He has used it more than once already. I recall too that there are certain insurance restrictions for kids in MA so..............</p>
<p>We are in a PPO. I am still not sure about what is and what is not covered. My son may use the health center at his school. My son has used the health clinic and medication was prescribed. My son went to a local pharmacy to have his rx filled. I assumed that since the clinic doctor is not in network, what he prescribed would cost us out of pocket. I was wrong and pleasantly. My insurance paid for it, and my son only was required to pay a copayment! My son also used an ER and our copayment for that should be $100 in any state. We were billed $200 by the ER, so we are in the middle of straightening that out. My son may use doctors who are in network with another insurance company which our insurance company chose, since our insurance company does not have in network doctors in the state where my son goes to school. It can get messy, and it can get stressful. I found out that my son could not see a dermatologist in the area when he had a horrible case of poison ivy from head to toe. We were lucky that his poison ivy occured a couple of weeks before he returned to school (he was home for the summer), and he no longer required a dermatologist when he returned to school. When he left, it was iffy. The whole insurance thing is a big pain.</p>
<p>Also, don't forget if your student is still 17 when they go to college that you may need to give them a notarized statement that they can receive needed medical treatment.</p>
<p>For those of you who keep your family insurance plan for your student: Many health insurance carriers require that you update them with college student status (especially once the student is 19) EVERY semester or they will deny your claims. Think health insurance, dental insurance, optical, etc.</p>
<p>We ran into that issue (son turned 19 in Dec). I had called company before he went to school to make sure coverage was in place and all was set. Then when he had an appt. beginning of January, we got the claim denied letter because they did not have some school info. letter on file. Well, I requested one and all was settled, but what a pain. If I had known, I would have filled out the thing before he turned 19.
Also, make sure you send a copy of insurance card along with student (if they don't have own card). Son needed x-ray and if he hadn't had copy of card that would have slowed things down again.</p>
<p>Oh, my insurance company is on top of checking that my son is a full time student. Several times a year they call with a recorded message and prompts for us, just to make sure that they still have to keep him on our plan.</p>
<p>For those few of us who do not have great quality health insurance (think self-employed, uber-high deductible), remember that it is certainly possible that the college-offered plan is superior to keeping the kid on your own. </p>
<p>This was the case with us. About the same cost, but far superior coverage to put him on that plan. </p>
<p>I believe we are the minority, but just want to chime in for those whose situations may be similar.</p>
<p>At my d's school the kids were automatically enrolled in the university health plan unless they filed a waiver with a standard level of coverage from a company they accepted. No questions about whether they were covered adequately but you really had to be aware of the deadline for filing the waiver or you would be charged for their plan.</p>
<p>NEM- so sorry to hear about the poison ivy- I hate poison anything (ivy/oak/sumac) D1, DH, and I are horridly allergic and actually chose to move from one area because we did not want to be surrounded by it. Now my pets can go in and out without contaminating me.</p>
<p>JM- too true, my Berkeley D has awesome coverage- knee surgery, dental, even wisdom teeth, all at very reasonable rates. I wish more schools offered that complete a plan, even my other UC D did not have dental- why? Why don't all the UCs offer the same great plan? Why don't small schools offer access to the employee plan instead of a small health center and not much more, meaning I maintain kid coverage on the catastrophic high ded plan, but also pay for the health center access.</p>
<p>For $1200 annually D has amazing coverage, I would gladly pay the same for my other kids to have a plan like that.</p>
<p>somemom, Thank you. This was our first experience with Poison Ivy. It was dreadful. He went to numerous doctors (allergist and 2 dermatologists) to deal with it. They even took a biopsy of his skin. My son was working in a place where he handled a lot of plants. He will not be working there this summer :eek:</p>
<p>We still have both kids on our family plan. We have Anthem BC/BS and Blue Care. By filling out the student college address and enrollment info, both kids are covered in the state in which they attend college. All they have to do is present their Anthem card and if it's a participating physician, the coverage is supposed to be seamless. We'll let you know...DS has an appointment on the 18th. I've talked to Anthem twice and they have assured me taht the doc is a participating one, and there should be no issues.</p>
<p>Oh...and both kids can go to the health center also. This is included in their fees. Neither has the college health insurance plan (but I will say...the coverage in both cases is pretty decent).</p>
<p>One of my friends recently had a cancer scare, and in trying to get the right tests done at our college's medical center (i.e. on campus hospital) he found out that his insurance doesn't cover that hospital or really any others in the area. Both his parents are doctors, so his insurance was very specific to the hospital that they both work at. If he ever broke a bone, needed stitches, or something else, the hospital bill could really soar. So double-check that your insurance covers the student's nearest health center or hospital while in college.</p>
<p>Also consider enrollment in the college's insurance plan. For us the cost was about the same as keeping him on our plan and he had access to far more local doctors/hospitals and special services which a young adult would need, providing coverage when studying abroad for instance.</p>
<p>Warning to other parents: If costs are a significant factor for your family in determining where you child will go to college, be sure to look into health insurance requirements when you are running the numbers because each school has different policies regarding coverage.</p>
<p>At my son's school, we have to pay for two insurance policies that pretty much cover the same things. We're on a family HMO plan out west and my son goes to school back east. His school requires us to enroll in the school's approved plan UNLESS we qualify for a waiver. But to get the waiver, you have to show that your existing plan provides at least the same minimum coverage -- and that includes such specific things as the maximum number of doctor visits, deductible, maximum amount for hospitalization, etc. Our family policy had a slightly higher deductible and covered slightly fewer "mental health" visits than the school's policy so we couldn't get a waiver. And we needed to keep him on our family policy so that he would be covered when he is home for the summer.</p>