Son will be freshman entering UCSB this fall. He is currently covered through my employer’s Anthem Blue Cross HMO plan. We reside in SoCal (not in Santa Barbara area), but the plan does include providers in the Santa Barbara area. I spoke to Anthem and they recommended that he choose a PCP locally in the Santa Barbara area. Said that he can change the PCP at any time, so that he can change back to our local PCP for breaks and summer. If he keeps the local PCP and then has an incident while at school, then he would be covered at emergency room but only if it is a “true emergency.”
So my tentative plan is to waive the full Gaucho Health Plan coverage, keep the Anthem Blue Cross HMO, have him choose a PCP in the Santa Barbara area, and then also pay the $460/yr for the Gaucho Access Plan so that he can go to student health for routine issues. He may never actually see the PCP in Santa Barbara.
Is this a good plan? What can go wrong? Disadvantages? Suggest a better alternative if there is one, please.
I’m a transfer student coming from a different area of California and I am on my parent’s employer HMO plan.
Have you looked over your son’s unofficial award letter? If he has been projected to get the Gaucho Health Insurance Grant, it may be more beneficial for him to stay on the Gaucho Insurance plan while he’s in school. It covers term breaks and has out-of-area coverage through the Aetna network. The on-campus resources are super comprehensive, too.
When you waive out of the GHI, it alters the financial aid package from UCSB.
It may be a good idea to wait until official financial aid packages are released to see how much is covered and then ask how it may affect his net cost of attendance if you waive out of it and enroll in the access plan.
@rocket88 We’ve waived the insurance the last 2 years and haven’t changed the PCP, although that is not a bad idea if it’s not a hassle. We did not get the Gaucho Access Plan because we were told it is $50/visit if you have nothing, so that would be a lot of visits to make up the cost of GAP. Fortunately, he hasn’t needed to go anyway.
Although you didn’t mention it, if you got the insurance grant from financial aid, that would be the way to go like soshiyoshi said.
Thanks Soshiyoshi and youcee! We’re not getting financial aid so we have to look at face-value costs. Also, I got some PMs with useful information. The itemized costs for service at the UCSB health center are detailed here:
It would take a fair bit of use to add up to the $460/yr cost of the GAP plan. The social work and counseling services are free to all students even without GAP. So my modified plan is to waive GHI, choose PCP in Goleta area and use the PCP/HMO benefits, including for pharmacy. No GAP. For convenience, my son can go to student health and pay out of pocket for “small things,” e.g. sore throat/sinus infection diagnosis, could afford to pay for labs and cheap prescriptions (e.g. generic antibiotics) at student health. For larger things, use the PCP/HMO, including costlier prescriptions. The nearest off-campus pharmacies appear to be Kmart and Costco in Goleta, both with good hours.
See if you can designate Sansum Clinic as your provider organization for HMO purposes in Santa Barbara. It’s the largest network of primary care and specialists in town. For in-town HMOs, that’s what Anthem normally deals with. (I’m not saying I’m completely happy with it, just that they are large enough to be a near-monopoly as far as provider organizations go.)