I’m trying to decide whether to get health insurance through my college or waive it. I have health insurance through my parents - our medical provider is Kaiser Permanente. I don’t think there’s a Kaiser in Boston, where I’ll be living for college.
I don’t expect to have any big out of pocket expenses, but neither did my sister, who did not have university health insurance and ran up a $1500+ bill. She was very sick with something close to mono and was in and out of hospitals in her city, which ran up the bill (despite us having private health insurance).
Did your kids opt for their college’s health insurance, and if so, why?
You need to check with your university. They may require that you have coverage in Boston.
You sister’s premiums for a college sponsored health care would have exceeded $1500, plus there would have been a deductible, so she was probably better off financially with just using the parent’s policy.
Usually you can get things at the student health clinic very inexpensively for minor things. See what Kaiser covers for out of network charges. Usually emergencies are covered, but treatments and regular care are not.
Check with both your insurance company and how the college operates. My insurance was portable for my kids so we opted out and both had occasion to use it, including one hospitalization and surgery and my insurance worked just fine. My third son gets 3 free visits per year to the Health Center regardless of insurance so I just kept him on mine.His health center won’t bill our insurance directly but they will bill me, but it’s reimbursable just an extra step and he won’t have to pay at time of service as i checked into that… if he should need more than 3 visits per year.
I’ve been wondering about this question as well. Our son is going to college 2.5 hours away, so not too far, but if there was a need for some serious medical care it would be charged as out of network on our family plan. Plus the plan offered by the college (for $1500) is cheaper out of pocket than what it costs me to pay for a family plan (as opposed to individual coverage) through my employer. So it feels like the college’s health insurance might be the better choice, but I’ll need to look into how good the coverage. deductible, etc. is on their plan.
I’ll be curious to hear other parents weigh in on this question.
Going without health insurance is not an option. If Kaiser won’t cover health care costs in Boston, you won’t have any choice but to take you school’s health insurance. Sometimes families have to do so anyway because their insurance does not meet the standard required by the school.
Our S was on the school health insurance. We didn’t have any at the time.
BTW, I think it is great that you are participating in the research and decision-making, but unless you have significant personal funds, your parents are the ones who ultimately need to make this decision, since they are the ones who will be footing the bill. 
No. Luckily both my S and D used my employer plan.
S’s school insurance is higher than $1,500 (MA). D’s school insurance is higher than $2,500 (PA). I think the college insurance premium depends on the state (?).
I waived the student insurance at Berkeley (over $1200/year!). The waiver required that there were local participating hospitals in our plan. We have Blue Cross PPO, and that was not a problem. I don’t think Kaiser would meet that criteria in Boston.
When my son went to the student health center (for stitches on his upper arm after running into a tree branch) I had to pay the bill directly - the student health center at Berkeley does not accept any outside insurance. I understand that is the case with most student health centers. I went directly to Blue Cross and got reimbursement from them, but it was a time-consuming hassle.
My D’s primary care is automatically covered by the school’s health care plan and the cost is included in tuition. You can purchase a policy for hospitalization and other “in patient” services but we will not do so as our family policy is portable.
Your college may not allow you to waive insurance if you have a plan like Kaiser that does not operate in Mass. I would check with your college. We were in the same situation as we had Kaiser before our D went to school in Boston. We changed insurance for our entire family as we also had a son going to college in another area that did not have a Kaiser close by.
Right…but changing for,the whole family NOW isn’t an option…it’s not the open enrollment period for insurance. That would have needed to be done before March.
I don’t think that schools in Massachusetts give you a choice to “opt out” if your insurance is not accepted locally. I appreciate that you aren’t expecting medical issues, but you really can’t count on that. My otherwise healthy child had kidney stone surgery in Massachusetts this past Fall. The student plan paid most costs, and my regular insurance paid the rest.
My D has her school’s health insurance plan. It is billed to her university bill and financial aid covers it. I imagine every school has its own policies, yours may differ. It was either the school policy or buying off of the marketplace for her (H and I don’t have employer based plans). Her school policy made the most sense.
when is open enrollment for your parents plan?
I’m about an hour away from home and my insurance is widely accepted. I waived my school insurance, I can still go to the health center on campus but for things like outside care when my school office is closed the insurance comes in handy. Just today I went to urgent care- if I didn’t have my private insurance this visit wouldn’t have been covered
We waived it. You and your parents need to find out how Kaiser works in MA, and you need to look closely at what the school’s plan would provide. The last time I looked at a student health plan it was inferior to our insurance, by a mile. But that will vary by plan so you should sit down with your parents and look at the numbers.
For my two boys financial aid paid for their campus health insurance and we would not have gotten that money otherwise. I also kept them on my plan at home so they could see our family doctor when they are home on break. My plan at work costs the same whether I have 1 kid or 3 kids so I am not paying anything extra.
Our kids haven’t gotten health coverage through their Universities.
What do people with Kaiser insurance do when they travel out of state for vacation or whatever, and then they need medical care?
Usually those type of limited plans will include some coverage once you’re 60 miles from home.
My plan would have been very difficult for son to manage, with needing per authorizations for just about everything. Much simpler to use the university plan.