College Health Insurance For Students

Parents Forum
21

<p>We have a regional HMO. We have never purchased the school sponsored policies; we were always able to waive. We were obligated to pay the school health center fees of ~$70/semester.
Our first two children went out of state to non-HMO areas. They had routine care and prescription refills when home; the plan covered out of area emergency care (in an ER; thankfully never needed) and the school health center covered the colds and sore throats.</p>

<p>The last one has gone to school on the opposite coast but our HMO is available in that region. She could even get routine care there if she tells Patient Services to transfer her home center to the one near her school.</p>

22

<p>One thing to keep in mind when you use your own insurance and waive the university plan is that the health centers usually don't direct bill the insurance companies AND you have no authority in discussing anything with them.<br>
Trying to get your child to straighten out a billing mistake or go back and get a receipt to send to the insurance company is a challenge!</p>

23

<p>momtn--A medical power of atty will solve the problem of having questions answered by medical staff when a parent inquires. We had this same issue arise at son's school this year--health center would not discuss the prescription bill or even fax a copy of the bill to us. We reminded them to check his file for the medical power of atty. We received the fax in 15 minutes! I cannot stress the importance of this esp if they attend school miles away from home and most issues are handled by phone. Yes, I know that they are considered adults, but who receives the bill and is expected to pay for it? The parents, of course. If I am going to give my student a full "parent scholarship" to attend the college of his choice, then I am most certainly going to want to know why I must pay for a prescription drug bill!!</p>

24

<p>We need national health insurance in this country. Our Canadian friends are very happy with their system. It's not perfect, but far superior to our patch-work, insurance company profit driven nonsense.</p>

25

<p>[post=19]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?[post]</p>

<p>For our group medical insurance, family plan, (one child): Insurance ends one month when child is no longer a full time student either as undergrad or grad student to age 24. With insurance co. requesting phone # of school to verify enrollment every semester or enrollment statement.</p>

<p>The second part of your question "Can they be covered?"- Depends if you can afford it.</p>

<p>Our experience: We kept S on our employer PPO, high coverage program, through grad school. When I saw S wage statement (TA) I discovered that Canada, withheld a mandatory health insurance tax, which meant that he was double covered with Canadian insurance a much better program. When he graduated last December we got him his personal insurance (big BX) with high deductible -80/20, high coverage, without any problems since he was in good health. The cost for his insurance was within $10 of the difference between the family plan and spousal plan. The advantage to getting his own insurance (which we should have done earlier) is that once he has his own insurance, his coverage can no longer be denied because of health at renewal, and coverage and its cost would be at standard rates. Contrast this in maintaining group health insurance: As child comes off the insurance plan, child must qualify for the insurance based on health-less than good health means higher premiums forever, and with possible exclusions. Your friend has discovered the unfortunate downside of maintaining group/employer insurance too long. </p>

<p>As S graduated, he got an internship/consultancy with a big software company in India. Having his own insurance would provide coverage in India, and not have to worry about any exclusions and exceptions on his return. The insurance is now categorized as a business expense, deductible from top dollar rather than itemized expense. </p>

<p>He has just secured another short-term consultancy with big software, Redmond, at a compensation which appears to be higher than being an employee. If he was an employee, he would pay or have paid for him as a benefit a much higher insurance premium to account that company's greater age range and health of the employee pool. </p>

<p>Finally, the cost of personal medical insurance is the same if purchased directly from the provider or from a broker/specialist. Use the broker and discover the pros/cons of different companies and coverages.</p>

26

<p>Seems as though each employer based plan is different.
Mine covers adult children through Dec of the the year they turn 23, whether a student or not.
I'm hoping son can find some coverage through school he will attend next year for grad.</p>

27

<p>Some schools do offer very nice medical plans through outside contractors. For example, Duke, UNC, and NC State offer plans through a Blue Cross provider. The plans offer PPO (superior to HMO -- no referrals necessary) coverage, and it's worldwide, which is great for studying abroad.</p>

28

<p>Not only do employer based plans differ, but different states have different regulation. In my home state, a dependent cannot be terminated from his parent's health plan even if he isn't a full time student until age 25. Colorado is the same--so long as the kid is unmarried, financially dependent upon his parents and shares the same permanent home address--he can stay on the parent's plan until age 25. Student status is irrelevant.</p>

29

<p>gladmom,</p>

<p>
[quote]
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.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>My question wasn't about personal insurance coverage, at all. I have good coverage for my family, and expect it is probably better than anything most colleges would offer.</p>

<p>My question was whether there is a law, regulation, whatever, that prohibits a university or college from offering their students the same coverage the university's/college's employees get. Let the students into that insurance pool, in other words, but have the students paying for their own coverage. </p>

<p>Reading of some of the crappy policies sold to students by universities/colleges, I have to believe that these institutions would never expect their employees to put up with such awful policies. So why should their students?</p>

<p>So I ask again: is there anything that prevents a university from offering their students the same medical insurance coverage that their employees receive?</p>

30

<p>I reiterate that parents should be looking to have older college children having their own private insurance rather than to look into group sponsered by college or group employee insurance.</p>

31

<p>owlice: That's a good question. I have no idea.</p>

<p>LongPrime: For us it would be much more expensive to purchase private insurance for our S who will start college next year. Our insurance is very good and will work just fine in his college's state. If it didn't, his college insurance is equally as good and would cost lots less than an equivalent private policy.</p>

<p>Everyone's situation is different, and should be fully researched to make sure your kids have the best coverage possible for what you can afford.</p>

32

<p>Owlice, I've never heard of such a law, and looking for it online has proven fruitless.</p>

<p>However, I don't think any college or university would allow its students to opt into the employee insurance plan. Number one, it would probably be expensive for the college, and number two, the students are not (at any time -- unless they already had a full-time job there) considered faculty or staff and are not entitled to the benefits of being an employee there. The employees would probably riot!</p>

<p>Also, I would advise not to panic. Some colleges do have shoddy plans, but my undergraduate college had a very good health insurance plan with coverage similar to my parents' plan. It covered most basic care at the school's health clinic; outside referrals were also largely covered; and my prescriptions were free at the clinic and had a $15 copay at nearby pharmacies.</p>

33

<p>Owlice, Juillet, </p>

<p>The main reason colleges do not use the same coveage as employees is cost. remember that students pay full price, and that group coverage plans, as most employer plans are, have substantial cross-subsidies, assuming all members of the plan are group rated. Because of state mandates, they often have coverages that drive up the price even more.</p>

<p>The impact of this is that the plans would include coverage irrelevant to college students (e.g. infertility treatment) at a cost that would be too high. </p>

<p>Most colleges offer policies through Chickering (now Aetna Student Health). Have yet to see anyone else, in fact.</p>

34

<p>Berkeley offers an outstanding Blue plan- medical, dental, etc. It's about $1200 annually</p>

<p>Other UCs offer different plans, my other Ds UC had a much weaker plan.</p>

<p>Other schools offer perfunctory $10k max type plans and access to the student health center. </p>

<p>I agree with Owlice, it seems like adding all those 18-22 year olds would only be beneficial financially to a group plan! Especially a large school which might offer a selection of offerings with more or less coverage and higher or lower employee co-pays.</p>

<p>We pay around $600/mo for an $8k deductible, so I really need to have my college kids use the health centers for little items, but some of the schools they have/will attend offer really deplorable plans. I would not mind paying the $1200 like Berkeley charges to have the same great coverage for the other kids.</p>

35

<p>Ok, I found out my HMO plan covers OOS for emergency and emergent(urgent care clinic) care, I'm going to stick with that as S. school has a lower cost coverage for the school clinic, so I think he should be covered for most stuff.</p>

36

<p>I called our insurance company today, and they have coverage OOS. There are several hospitals within a few miles of my son's campus - in addition to the fairly inexpensive student health center. So long as he goes to a participating doctor/hospital, he will have the same co-pay he would have here at home. That's a load off my mind.</p>

37

<p>After reading this thread I can only hope that we get a universal health care system soon. </p>

<p>I know my plan is useless for OOS. Good enough reason for me to support someone for president.</p>

38

<p>
[quote]

So I ask again: is there anything that prevents a university from offering their students the same medical insurance coverage that their employees receive?

[/quote]

Not sure if this is related. During our visit the school that my kid will attend this fall. I was told that all students insurance are mandatory and must use the one school provided. Simply its the best interest of your child, because if something wrong with your kid, the administrater knows how to react and how to deal with the insurance don't have to wait for your insurance company approve/disapprove. And believe or not, the student insurance is better than the one they provide to their employees. That's kind of relief.</p>

39

<p>Certainly a U could include students in their group rated pool with employees.</p>

<p>But why would they do this? I doubt many students would pay the price. Consider that insurance pools almost always have built in cross subsidies, where the healthy young subsidize the more sickly older folks. This means students would pay a higher cost than otherwise as their own group, which is what most places do.</p>

<p>There are also ERISA issues, since employee plans are governed under federal law.</p>