<p>WE have the opportunity to waive student health fees (approx.$1200, I think). D. is going to school half an hour from home, and is covered by our family plans. So if there are any health concerns she can be taken care of by her own docs, anyway, she is rarely sick, has no ongoing issues, etc. My gut says keep paying our health plan and sign up for the school one too---but...What's your advice?</p>
<p>We are (ignorance is bliss?) keeping S only on our health plan. We are not buying the school-offered plan. I will be interested in other responses - glad you asked. Our health plan does not require us to use "in-plan providers." If your plan restricts who you can use, that would be an issue, I would think.</p>
<p>if you have an HMO, check to see if it has coverage in the school area, just in case.</p>
<p>$1200 for a year of student health seems very steep to me. </p>
<p>We have a $1000 deductible (per person!) on our family policy and the school policies cost less than that AND have $0 deductible and cover prescriptions (such as BC pills) so I didn't hesitate for both kids. It's easy, they tell me, to use the college health plans on campus. It's helped them both learn to be responsible for their own care. (They are considerably farther away.)</p>
<p>One thing to consider, even with your D only half an hour away, is that she will be in a crowd situation, where bugs can be passed around very easily. (This is why I insist on my kids getting the flu vaccine every year. I don't want them losing weeks of school over something preventable.) The school's health service may or may not be willing to treat her for minor ailments if she doesn't have the coverage.</p>
<p>Both DS's and DD's school plans run about 1800 per year. We have elected to pass on the school plans and keep them on H's corporate plan the same as when they were home. It's a PPO, and luckily the hospital in S's school town is part of our plan. D will go to an urban school with plenty of participating health operations close by. It has worked well for DS so far, though he is not a sickly kid. He has used the school clinic (he says it's free - we know we pay for it each semester as a hidden fee tucked in with tuition or board or something!) twice in 2 years - sinus infection and excema - with good results...just had to go to CVS for prescriptions each time.</p>
<p>Dmd77 - I agree - they seem quite steep.....am thankful D is not an international student at her school - they MUST take the insurance - at about 2800 per year!</p>
<p>We kept S on our plan. He had to use it last year and had no problems. Ours is a Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO and he's in the middle of Iowa. We're doing the same thing with D who will be in Ohio. I thought their plans were designed for students who weren't covered under their parents or where it was a cheaper option.</p>
<p>School offered health plans are ''usually'' for the student who has NO insurance - as many schools will not allow a student on campus at all with NO insurance. If the student has financial aid - the insurance can be covered by it also.</p>
<p>If the student is covered under the family health plan that ''should'' be good enough - but with HMO can be tricky for follow-up care - most student health centers will manage and take care of many ailments that may not require follow-up of sorts. Most schools have a health fee incuded somewhere in the bill which allows them to be covered for many things at the student health center - or at least at a discounted cost. Many health centers do NOT do insurance billing also.</p>
<p>We kept D on our plan, which does not require specialist referral from GP and does not require in-plan provider. Therefore waived school insurance. She visited the health center a few times last year and there seemed to be no problem with handling it this way--the insurance information is on file at school.</p>
<p>We're keeping our son on our health plan, and could decline the school's coverage. BUT it is pretty inexpensive ($300??? for the year?)and it allows him to use the campus health service for 'free' and also get presciptions filled for free up to $500/yr.
They make it a BIG deal to opt out so it's just not worth it for us.</p>
<p>We're keeping our son on our private insurance. It's a better policy and includes prescription coverage. There are plenty of doctors in the city where he'll be who are covered by the plan even though it's in a different state. Heck, we're sticking with it when WE leave the state to travel next year, so why take HIM off of it?</p>
<p>We also chose to apply for the health waiver, and use our private insurance. It sounds like at Musicmom's son's school, you have to pay a fee for use of the health service - rather than in-patient hospital care.</p>
<p>Anyway I thought Dartmouth had a good list of criteria that a plan had to meet before they would grant a waiver from the school's health insurance - you might find it useful in evaluating your health insurance coverage for your child, particularly if s/he is going far away. I have heard horror stories of kids in restrictive HMOs having to fly home for certain types of care - wouldn't want to be forced into that.</p>
<p>We also waived the school's plan because my employers plan also offeres more comrehensive coverage (D also a student at Dartmouth). All students are covered under the college health services and the group health insurance plan is used for hosptalization, emergency room visits. </p>
<p>D did get sick while at school and had to go to the emergency room at 3 am, my plan kicked in and we had not problems just paid the co-payment.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you compare your employer heath program against the student health program and also check with your employer about their enrollment provisions should you think about dropping your student from your plan. </p>
<p>Remember that the school health plan only covers them during the actual school year, so when school is out, they will have to be covered through your program. In order to keep administrative cost down many companies only allow changes to the program during your open enrollment period</p>
<p>I guess everyone needs to study the provisions of the school plan offered. Our son's school health plan IS actually a 12 month plan, not just school year. Mostly, I chose not to opt him out just so he could use the student health clinic on campus to see the nurse/dr for colds/sprains and other minor stuff. Anything serious (hospital), we'd put through our family's plan.</p>
<p>Hmmm, there must be many different ways for schools to operate their health systems. Musicmom, your S's sounds very reasonable in cost, but it differs from our kids'. When S used his school walk-in clinic (nurse there 24/7, doc there 6 days during daylight hours and on call the rest of the time), there was no bill at all - either to our own plan or sent to him personally to cover. That's where S gets the idea that it's 'free'. Since the school is now $41K+ a year, I KNOW it's not free, although the cost is not itemized separately on the semester bills. But the health plan they want you to buy is not for the clinic, but rather for any medical needs off campus in the area.</p>
<p>Yes, our son is still paying the student health fee and will still have access to the student health center, but the uni requires that he also have either private insurance OR take their insurance coverage in addition to that basic service. Theirs costs $1400. Having him on ours costs little more and is superior, so there's no question. He'll be covered everywhere and for everything this way.</p>
<p>With our first son, the health coverage was included in the college cost and covered by need-based aid. If we had chosen to opt out, need-based aid would have been reduced by that amount, so it wouldn't have saved us any money. Needless to say, we kept the coverage.</p>
<p>For our second son, at a different college, there is a basic fee for the health center, then optional insurance. We will not take the optional coverage, but keep him on our plan. I don't think they have any clinics in that state, but there is some coverage for out-of-state expenses. And I figure the health clinic will cover most, if not all, of his needs. (He is a pretty healthy kid.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
the school's coverage. ...allows him to use the campus health service for 'free' and also get presciptions filled for free up to $500/yr.
[/quote]
I don't know if other schools "charge" for use of the Student Health Center, but S' school will not, and my school(s) didn't back in the day. So I'm a little confused by the above statement. Here is what S' school says re use of the Health Center:</p>
<p>"Services and Clinics are provided to students regardless of their insurance program. Eligibility For Care: All full-time students ... are eligible to receive primary care and psychiatry services at the Student Health Center without further charge. Fees: Full-time students have already prepaid their Student Health Center fee at the time of registration, so primary care services are provided with no further charge. Fees are charged for laboratory tests, pharmacy purchases, orthopedic appliances, immunizations, Travel Clinic, and consultant gynecological services, but these can either be billed directly to your student account or paid by check, cash, or credit card. Many of these expenses are covered by your medical insurance plan."</p>
<p>Almost every school has a ''student health center'' and the use of it is included somewhere in the billing to the school - ours is ''health service - $90/semester'' - this is one of those mandatory fees included on the student bill - so it is included 'somewhere' on the bill for those schools that provide ''free'' or discounted services to the students thru a student health center. Many of the services provided to students thru the 'student health center' are free - some are not and have to be paid for - either by adding to the students bill OR paid for at time of service - but many of the ''paid for'' services are covered by major insurance plans - one has to get a copy of the 'student health center' bill and submit it to the major insurance company for reimbursement as most do not do any insurance billing - tho many of the services do fall into the catagory of part of the deductable. Many of the services at the student health center are free - but x-rays, lab work or scripts usually are not - tho some do give med samples. The student health center can provide you with a copy of the charges if you ask.</p>
<p>In our situation - we have to evaluate the cost of services at the student health center vs going to the ER for it to be covered by our health plan - it depends on what it is - and what the charge will be - as some are covered under our insurance if done in ER but not in student clinic. We also have to balance scripts - some are low cost and we pay it - but some are very expensive - so the script s filled at the local CVS or WalMart or whereever our insurance is taken - ie - some antibiotics are well over $200 to fill - so that would be filled at the drug store - so we could use our med plan - pay $25 for that script. Lab work and x-rays are in the same boat.</p>
<p>Major health insurance - in many states/schools - is mandatory coverage - in order to attend classes - step foot on campus - there are few schools now that do not require that the student be covered somehow - by a major insurance program. Most students fall into - catagory #1 -of falling under their parents major insurance policy - catagory #2 - of having a limited policy which the school will review and if they feel it is not enough coverage - may require that the student participate in the schools health insurance program - or catagory #3 - student having NO insurance and being mandated to participate in the schools program.</p>
<p>Just remember one thing - the schools health insurance program is a service they provide - to those who need it - but they do not benefit from those programs - as they are managed by private companies.</p>