<p>Business Week article on insurance coverage at college. Hopefully, you can access it. Insurance companies make money but there is fine print.</p>
<p>Is</a> Your Kid Covered?</p>
<p>Bump one time in order to allow those who need to consider medical insurance for their college student children to see it.</p>
<p>Sounds like people should take a hard look at health insurance obtained through or recommended by a college to make sure the benefits are adequate.</p>
<p>Another issue, one that I will be checking out, is to make sure that the health insurance provided by your employer in one state will work adequately for your child when going to school in a different state.</p>
<p>^ I agree. There is a tendency to think this is a good deal, when it may not be, worse yet, to think you are covered an may not be. But the out of state thing is definitely something to think about.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in most cases the college gets a sayso as to whether your current coverage is 'adequate' in comparison to what it's offering. So, I am sure it's something in for them as well!</p>
<p>And watch out-we were required to buy the college insurance-thought it was the primary insurance for my son when he was injured while away at school-but we were wrong. Son's name begins with a B-husband's name begins with an A-</p>
<p>Which colleges have health care plans for their students? I haven't heard of it too much.</p>
<p>Our daughter's school asked for proof of insurance and it was waived. She had to go to their health center this year. It only cost us $10 for the visit because she was a student even though we didn't take their insurance coverage.</p>
<p>We also had to prove that our insurance was equal to or better than the school offered insurance and received a waiver.</p>
<p>Wow. Is there anything that prohibits a school from offering the health insurance that covers its employees to students?</p>
<p>owlice,</p>
<p>The two top-ten schools that my kids got into offer their own excellent health insurance for students for an extra fee. If your personal insurance coverage as as good as the university's is, then you can waive the school's. The schools want to make darn sure that their students are covered somehow or another, and with good coverage.</p>
<p>Both schools have student health centers that cover many health problems for free, regardless of insurance.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what other schools do.</p>
<p>Wow -- I went to Connecticut College's site and clicked on the link for the actual health policy. It is terrible. Worse, while the cost is the same for US and foreign students, foreign students get a MUCH higher level of coverage under the policy because the domestic policy limits are so low that they're only 1/5th the minimum required by the federal government for students who need a visa to study in the US.</p>
<p>Either somebody is getting paid off, or the people who pick insurance for Connecticut College are clueless. If you had an appendectomy with a two night hospitalization you could still be out-of-pocket $5000 or more with their policy, and G*d forbid you ever developed leukemia or a cancer, because you'd go bankrupt. </p>
<p>What a ripoff.</p>
<p>My d's school allows you to waive the student insurance, but still requires a $450 "health service fee". That allows her to go to the health center. Of course, her campus is across the street from a major hospital and she could go to a physician there (which would count towards my insurance deductible), but there is no chocie. We have to pay the fee and the deductible, even though the health center misdiagnoses so often that I don't trust it as far as I can throw it.</p>
<p>Massachusetts requires that college students be offered a plan through their college that meets state requirements (whatever those are). You can choose to waive the plan, but we felt it would be a better bet to spend the extra $1400 on the college plan. It turned out to be a good decision. D had to go to the emergency room with abdominal pain. Tests for everything from ectopic pregnancy to appendicitis ensued, and the plan paid for everything but $9 with no questions asked. Can't imagine the nightmare if we had gone through our HMO.</p>
<p>Folks, the situation is worse than what you describe.</p>
<p>First off, the colleges may or may not be trying to make money off students, as I am sure some get a rebate on part of the insurance premiums paid to the provider. But their bigger concern is making sure the college (or perhaps even a local hospital) does not get stuck holding the bag for expenses.</p>
<p>But here are some of the problems/pitfalls you need to watch out for:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>what is covered (and what is not) by the student health fee? When does insurance coverage kick in, and for what?</p></li>
<li><p>whether you have insurance through the school or through a parent's policy, you need to understand your policy:</p></li>
<li><p>is it fee for service (becoming rare...?) If so, how do they determine reasonable and customary (R&C)? Do they have a preferred network? Does it cover the area of the school? Conveniently? (i.e. are in network providers, who cost less, nearby or across town? We have this problem right now). Does the plan allow providers to do balance billing?</p></li>
<li><p>Understand what R&C means, if it applies, and how you can be on the hook for far more than the 10% (or 20% or whatever) co-pay spelled out in your contract. The NYC had a great article last month about some of the "scams" going on here.</p></li>
<li><p>HMO style plan? BC/BS often have nationwide extended networks, but you need to check and may spend a long time on hold.</p></li>
<li><p>Know how ER works, since accidents are the most likely thing to hit our kids. You may need to notify the carrier within hours or be stuck with a very large bill. To give you an example, my D made an ER visit last month while on break in Big Bend NP. The bill for an 11 PM visit to Big Bend Regional Hospital is over $2,000, and she was not even admitted. Hospital ER charge alone was over $1000! Curiously, an X-ray was only $35! We still do not know how much we'll be on the hook for.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We've had multiple instances over my D's 4 years in college of fights with insurers, things not covered (mercifully no huge bills) and lots of time on the phone. We avoided financial train wrecks by knowing that in many cases we needed to work with the insurer in advance. The situation I suspect would have been no better if we had the college's insurance.</p>
<p>I can't emphasize enough that you MUST understand your carrier's policies cold, you can assume nothing and you must do some homework in advance. Otherwise you are gambling with your family's financial future. </p>
<p>It is unfortunate that in all too many cases, IMHO, insurers profits depend on making it as difficult as possible for us insured to get the services paid for to which we are entitled. The depend (IMHO) on insureds giving up and just paying the bill. Don't give up and understand your appeal rights. I am told the majority of appeals are decided in the favor of the insured.</p>
<p>Stuff does happen.</p>
<p>We have not purchased insurance through the college. It came close to my son requiring 2 specialists for the worst case of poison ivy that I have ever seen. He got it while still at home, and was on the mend by the time he got to college last fall. My son is covered under our major medical, but there wasn't an in network doctor in either specialty that my son could easily get to near the school. Fortunately my son did not require the specialists by the time he was at school, but it could have been a big hassle.</p>
<p>If your child will be attending college any distance from home, I definitely recommend that you contact your health insurance company to see exactly what they will cover in that location. I called and only had to wait a couple of minutes to talk to someone and get all of my questions answered. I was also able to check on our companys website for the names of doctors and hospitals 2000 miles from our home that are in our plan.</p>
<p>The colleges that I am familiar with give detailed explanations of the coverage that their policies offer, and they suggest that you compare policies carefully. Good insurance doesnt come cheap. Stanfords cost is $756/quarter, or $2268/year (a full year). </p>
<p>northeastmom: We should start a poison ivy/oak thread. My sympathies to your S. My D got poison oak in a very bad way over Christmas break in California. Her case wasn't as bad as the very worst cases that I discovered when doing a google image search, but was awful nonetheless. Good health, both physical and emotional, is so important in the ability to function well, both at school and work.</p>
<p>LOL, gladmom, I had a thread about this last summer. I don't even know if it was poison ivy, even though I am calling it that. The dermatologist called it contact dermatitis to cover all possibilities I guess. Sorry about your D having to go through that too. Just with poison ivy, my son required 4 doctor appointments before leaving to go back to school. The initial dermatologist thought my son had an allergy. The allergist started treating, but on the follow up visit he realized that this was a contact dermatitis as the rash changed. Then my S went back to the dermatologist and had to have skin biopsy. I was worried that they could not get the stitches removed before he had to leave to go back to school. They took the stitches out a bit early and it was done one day before he left. Fortunately, he started to heal just before he left to go to school.</p>
<p>Last winter he had a problem with bronchitis. He was diagnosed correctly at his school's health center, but was not given enough medication, because he required more medication than the antibiotic. He ended up just going to a hospital ER and we paid the copay for that. The rest was picked up by our health insurance. There was no charge for his initial treatment at the school's health center.</p>
<p>I fear sending my child almost 3 thousand miles away on our HMO insurance. I went to my employee benefit department at work and recieved no clear cut answers as to what to do for an out of state college attending child. They suggested I take him off our insurance and get him his own insurance, but none of the policies I have seen were affordable or offered nearly as much coverage as my plan. His school plan seems vague, and costs an additional 2k per year, so I'm not looking forward to paying for that also. It was so much easier when I had an instate college student, I just had to move his providers to those up north of where we are. Since my plan seems to be under a blanket of health insurers, I'm going to see what they have to offer. Besides I'm paying for a family plan already, why should I have to pay so much extra if my child is supposed to be covered till age 23 if a full time student? On a side note, one of my co-workers has a child who is just being diagnosed with some type of heart condition, is graduating college in a couple of weeks and turns 24 in June. She is extremely worried that this child will have no coverage and will not be able to get coverage after that, and the tests continue. The girl has to drive down from up north to see doctors in her mother's area because it is so complicated to find specialists and get things done quickly before her health insurance runs out. A question I have: If your child graduates college, still under 23 years old, when does the insurance stop? On graduation, that month I mean or all through the summer? And what about grad students under the age of 24? Can they be covered?</p>
<p>churning: When coverage ends depends on the policy. When it runs out, the family might have the option of continuation of insurance benefits under COBRA, which generally continues for 18 months. Under some circumstances, it can go for 36 months. You have to pay a monthly premium that can be pretty hefty, $300 - $400 or more per month.</p>
<p>Good luck figuring out what to do about your out-of-state child. If your HMO won't cover her in the new location, it is of no benefit to her. For $2K a year, the school plan might be much better than poor or no coverage from the HMO.</p>