<p>Having trouble deciding whether or not to waiver out of the UM student health plan. It is considerably more expensive than keeping our S on our existing family PPO plan with HealthNet. We're in CA, so if we do put him on the UM plan, there are in-network providers here that are on that plan. Any advice from those who have gone this road before??</p>
<p>Many thanks - so much to think about these next few weeks.</p>
<p>We left son on our HMO and opted out of the UM health plan with no problems. Just a quick check with your HMO/PPO and you can get their preferred providers down in Miami. Also remember to get him a card to carry and a prescription card if you have it. He hasn't had any problems at all.......</p>
<p>We kept our S on our family plan, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing. He did have an accident in Sept that required hospitalization and orthopaedic surgery. Although our plan does have a PPO network in FL, it did not seem that all the physicians that Doctors Hospital called in were participating. We had to go back and forth with the insurance company, Cigna, many times to get most of the bills paid. They approved the emergency care easily, but the follow-up care took quite some doing. Despite this, we are keeping him on our policy, but have switched to a plan option with more out-of-network benefits just in case.</p>
<p>I would check with your ins co about the extent of the network in the area and what your out of network expenses would be. For most medical care, the Health Center on campus is great and all the kids can use it, it was only the emergency that gave us trouble.</p>
<p>After checking into our family health plan we're on through my employer and looking on line at their network of doctors, etc.; I think I'm going to leave our S on our plan and opt out of U of M's plan. Miami's plan is pretty expensive, a lot of services they are covered to receive anyway through the fee paid with your bill, and anything else can be covered through our insurance whether he goed to the health center or to an in-network doctor around the campus area (there are like 12 of them within 10 miles of campus according to insurance web site). Also, we are covered through United Health Care which is the same company the Miami plan is through so I figure that the health center use will be easy to coordinate with our plan. If you are on United Health Care, that may be a further advantageous decision factor for you too.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your quick responses. We will probably keep him on our plan, double check w/student health services office to make sure there's nothing we're missing and hope for the best. He's a pretty healthy kid overall, but being so far away and on his own....well, one never knows.</p>
<p>my-3-sons: Sorry to hear about your S's problem. Hard to deal with from far away, I'm sure. I'll follow your good advice on checking out the actual providers in the area.</p>
<p>I've seen you three post on this site, you've individually given so much great info and it does much to calm this soon-to-be-faraway Mom's anxiety (first to leave home - could you tell?)!</p>