Health Insurance for Graduate Students

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hello! Has anyone decided that there must be better health insurance for their grad student out there than the school's option? DS's school offers insurance that pays a $50,000 maximum for an accident or illness, and while he is very healthy now, that seems to be a very small amount if anything REALLY happens. Have any of you researched this for your student? What questions did you ask and what parameters did you consider? Is there a helpful website or resource that I could consult?</p>

<p>As always, thank you all in advance for your help!!</p>

2

<p>If school is in a state with reasonable insurance regulation, just buy an individual policy. See a broker or use ehealthinsurance.com. If you own your own policy, you never become “uninsurable” and if you have one with an HSA attached it has tax advantages that are better than an IRA. $50,000 max is a lousy policy–you can burn through that in the ER for a serious trauma case. If grad school involves field work elsewhere, look for policy with national network. Some have European networks as well.</p>