<p>I am debating between keeping my daughter on our private insurance or signing her up for the Rice Student Health Insurance. The student insurance is more expensive, but appears to cover more than our private insurance. Can anyone who has used the Rice Student Health Insurance plan, let me know what you think? Are there advantages to being on the student insurance plan? I know that back in the "old days," being on the student insurance plan was a big advantage when it came to using the university health services (pretty much free doctor visits and cheap and easy access to prescriptions). Not sure if there are any advantages nowadays.</p>
<p>would love to know the answer to this as I am facing the same situation with my son. We have an HMO and he can pick a doctor there and use that…maybe that is the better way to go since there are so many medical facilities so close to Rice.</p>
<p>I opted to keep my family’s insurance, and the vast majority of people I know have done the same thing. In terms of regular visits to the doctor, basic appointments at Rice Health Services are free to all students - we just call and make an appointment, or swing by to pick up some free cold meds if that’s all that’s needed. I can’t speak to the differences in prescription costs, but if free doctors visits are what you’re concerned about I think all students get that on campus (they refer more serious cases elsewhere, ex. I’ve been to the med center to check for a broken bone and had to pay for that separately).</p>
<p>Apologies for the general answer.</p>
<p>We kept our own insurance for our daughter, too. As SilentSailor said, your insurance doesn’t even come into play for the on campus Health Service. It will only be used for prescriptions and doctor’s visits off campus. If your own private health insurance is cheaper and you’re sure it can be used in Houston (we’re from CA, so I had to make sure of this), I would just stick with your own.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info guys, we will definitely keep our own insurance. I called as we are from CA and they said that my son could just pick a new primary care doctor in Houston. I didn’t realize they all could use the Health center for minor issues.</p>
<p>[Rice</a> University The Wellness Center](<a href=“http://www.studenthealthinsurance.rice.edu/]Rice”>http://www.studenthealthinsurance.rice.edu/)</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that in the past, we’ve waived the Rice insurance plan, too – but this year the $1543 annual cost is less than what it would cost us if we included our son on our new plan. Rice’s student coverage is about $130 per month – maybe there are other Owl parents who can save some money this way, too.</p>
<p>We waived Rice insurance and saved quite a bit of money through my mother’s work insurance. Once caveat: make sure if you do get taken somewhere by EMS, it is a supported provider. I got transported for what was a suspected broken bone in my foot, got discharged with a hematoma, and an X-Ray from the one location in the med center that our provider didn’t cover, and was billed heavily. </p>
<p>Granted, it turned out fine because the provider had taken my insurance card and assured me it was fine/I didn’t ask to be taken there, but be careful!</p>
<p>Additionally, your insurance provider should provide you with information (or an interactive map in my case) that indicates which providers around Rice are supported on your plan!</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip Tilgaham!</p>