<p>Has anyone here heard of Gradguard Insurance through College Parents of America?
Or if anyone has any suggestions about health insurance for grad students.
The plan offered through his school is really expensive and has to be paid in one lump sum (Aetna).
Would really appreciate some input here.</p>
<p>I carry my daughter through my employer. Many employer plans will now let you carry your child until they are 26.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure this is a “choice”. It was one of the provisions of the health care legislation. Kiddos can be kept on their parents’ plans (or added back onto the plans during the open enrollment period) up to their 26th birthdays and do NOT have to be full time students. Of course, the parents do have to pay the cost share their employer requires. We found this was much less expensive than the college plan AND provided much better coverage.</p>
<p>We kept our grad student on our family plan.</p>
<p>My older d completed grad school in 2010 and it was before the new law went into effect so we were unable to carry her on our policy, but there was medical coverage available through her school and so we picked that up for her and she was able to continue with that coverage until we were able to pick her back up again on the family plan when the new coverage went into effect. She is on our plan now but will age out this November. She has a less than 32 hour a week position in her field so no benefits. We will need to be looking into this again at the end the calendar year.</p>
<p>We also were able to add DS back onto my policy last year. That was wonderful after having to buy an individual policy the year before then he turned 22 and was kicked off.</p>
<p>He has about 10 more months left then he will have to purchase an individual policy again.
Hoping that his PT position will morph into one with benefits soon after.</p>
<p>When I was in grad school, since I was a registered student, I was on the university insurance plan, saw doctors etc. at the university medical clinic/hospital.</p>
<p>Thanks. Actually we are US citizens living outside of the US, so having him on our policy wouldn’t help.
I came across the above-metioned insured plan sponsored by an organization called College Parents of America. I was hoping someone here would’ve heard about them, and could verify if it’s a legitimate organization.</p>
<p>Just an FYI - the school will probably ask for an insurance waiver which will be approved only if the insurance plan you find for your child is comparable to what the school plan covers. I would bite the bullet and pay for the school-mandated plan; that way, your graduate student will have access to the on-campus medical facilities.</p>
<p>BunsenBurner: You’re probably right. I wish that they didn’t want the whole thing all at once. $3800.00 in one shot is quite a big bullet to bite.
Will follow your advice.</p>
<p>You might want to go to ehealthinsurance.com and see if there is an individual plan for your grad school student that you could purchase (that meets the school’s requirements). You would pay by the month if this were possible. Plans we have seen are $200 a month…or less…depending on the coverage, and deductible.</p>
<p>Re: access to the school health facilities…both of our kids had waivers of the SCHOOL health plan as they both were on OUR insurance. They were STILL able to go to the school health center when needed. Colleges do NOT want sick students around.</p>
<p>My son pays $1800/yr with UNH, the school provider, in one lump sum. That has been the price for two years - no increase. The one time he needed medical care was in the middle of the night, and there was an additional one thousand dollar bill. I’m not sure if it was a deductible or for a not included ER fee.</p>
<p>At one time another child had Aetna, and that was paid quarterly and was much less than what you are quoting. Plus, they used a gatekeeper system (somebody in the on campus health service had to refer him) and if was very hard to get a referral.</p>