Ironically, my oldest was at a medical office today, since her college doesnât have a health center on campus. They will bill her student insurance plan and Iâll get a bill for whatâs left over. Then Iâll have to call the billing office and ask them to bill our family plan for the remainder. Thankfully, our local plan will pick up those charges. Itâs not usually a big deal but itâs a pain in the neck. One big hospital system we use wonât bill to a secondary directly and I have to send in claim. That is more of hassle, but those are the times Iâm most thankful we have the extra plan. So there has been some benefit for that child because she has medical issues. It wonât be the same for every kid.
This is one of the most helpful threads. Now, my kids will have to rethink a few things with colleges based on our health insurance plan. Now, we will carefully investigate which schools have health insurances and which do not. Thanks.
Each time you drop a school because they donât offer health insurance, email them to explain why.
Only a continuous, rational stream of potential applicants not applying because of this issue will make them reconsider their position (which was likely linked to the ACA and the fact all students under 26 were on their parentsâ insurance - something which may be in jeopardy now).
@MYOS1634 , youâre right. I was wondering about the best time to do that. Does it matter that admission offices are probably busy right now with admissions for 2017?
April through June would likely be a good time.
I have health insurance PTSD too. We are on an HMO, and while I could change us to a plan with OOS coverage, we ended up buying D (OOS), the student insurance for $1500. It is 12 months and covers her if she does study abroad. If she needs to be on our insurance after she graduates, sheâll have to move one of the 4-5 states where our HMO is 
I looked at all my Dâs grad schools. All of them offer at least the option to purchase a school plan for PhD students with assistantships. Some schools subsidize. The schools with unions for their grad students usually had the best subsidies (and do not appear to offer lower stipends from what I could see).
One type of issue that sometimes comes up in California is that Kaiser is relatively popular in the state. However, UCSB is in a place where the nearest Kaiser facility is about 40 miles away.