<p>Do you recommend purchasing SHIP? Does anybody have experience with using other health plans at Gannett and in Ithaca?</p>
<p>Look very carefully into your current health insurance. If it is an HMO plan, they will NOT cover you in Ithaca unless it is an emergency. I found that out the hard way. If your parents have a PPO plan, you would theoretically be covered but would pay more out of pocket expenses and would probably need prior approval. I've learned something valuable from PAM 435. Have your parents call your insurance and find out exactly what their policies are.</p>
<p>I've gone to Gannett twice in my time here. The first time was for what turned out to be sinus infection. I paid $10 for the visit and $4 for the amoxicillin. The 2nd time was for something much more serious. I paid the $10 visit, had to pay $272 for the medication and ran up $150 in lab fees. I submitted the claim to my insurance and they denied me. However, I still feel Cornell's plan isn't worth the cost because my out of pocket expenses were still less than the cost of SHIP. I also live 2 hours from home, so when I get sick I just go home now.</p>
<p>Call your insurance people, talk with your parents, and decide what will be best for you.</p>
<p>Don't purchase SHIP unless you have to</p>
<p>yeah...forgot to mention...I do not have SHIP. I keep my personal insurance because I can think of better things to spend $1500 on :-)</p>
<p>I really don't get ill and if there were an emergency then my insurance would cover me</p>
<p>We also chose to have our current insurance for our daughter. She has been sick a few times and our insurance has paid for all visits. We have ppo with no referral (she is free to go to any doctor). We spoke to our insurance before she went away to school. They assured us our daughter would be covered with no additional cost.</p>
<p>Our HMO has a college student provision where they pay up to $1500 or so if away at college. It is also a NY based HMO that local doctors participate in but we had trouble making an appointment for her, their practices are full or they had week long waits for appointments. (we were tired of Gannett's approach to bronchitis for our daughter). The HMO paid for her bronchitis treatments and the prescription plan worked at the Gannett pharmacy.</p>