<p>So I have been trying to find how much I would have to pay for health insurance at UA. I’m from California and I have a HMO with Kaiser so I don’t think I can take my insurance with me. That is one of my moms main concerns because she doesnt want to pay that extra fee. On the Student Health website there is no exact price either. Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>The cost for the UA health insurance is listed in the brochure on the Health Center webpage. Here’s the link <a href=“http://sas.ua.edu/files/2014/07/2014-328-1-4-Summary-Brochure-Revised-7-16-2014.pdf”>http://sas.ua.edu/files/2014/07/2014-328-1-4-Summary-Brochure-Revised-7-16-2014.pdf</a> . It runs around $500 each for the Fall and Spring semesters. It’s worth noting that some University of California colleges are requiring students to buy their college health insurance if the students home is too far from the campus even if the student is already insured. <a href=“UCSB Is Ripping-off The Students & Parents - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1670203-ucsb-is-ripping-off-the-students-parents-p1.html</a> </p>
<p>I used my Cigna insurance from WY with no problem. I would think you’d be ok.</p>
<p>Your insurance should cover you in the event of an emergency. A lot of students schedule their regular doctor visits for school breaks so they can get them done at home. It might also cover you for an online doctors visit where a doctor is able to diagnose common health issues via a webcam. </p>
<p>Check to see what your insurance does if you’re OOS. Some will still cover you.</p>
<p>Have your mom call Kaiser to get the details about health insurance for college students who go out of state. In the meantime, schedule all of your physicals for when you are home. Fill all of your prescriptions. In the event of emergency care, I would think Kaiser would cover you, just as they would if you traveled out of their service area.</p>
<p>And make sure you sign all the HIPAA and authorized user paperwork so that your parents can call the medical providers on your behalf (once you are 18, even if you are on your parents’ insurance, you are no longer considered a minor and you have to give written approval to allow your parents to help with medical concerns.)</p>
<p>As far as the UA Health Center, my son has had to go two times already - caught some respiratory thing the first week of school that hung on for nearly a month. We do have a Blue Cross plan, and I already knew that the health center was a participating provider, via DCH Medical Center (since all the doctors are associated with that hospital). They submitted a claim to our insurance but then billed the amount due to my son’s student account. Now, these are the rates that the student center billed Blue Cross, so they may be negotiated rates, but the rates are similar to any urgent care center where most people pay cash without using insurance at all: for the first visit they billed $105 and the second they billed $119. Gives you an idea of the cost of a health center visit if you get sick.</p>
<p>Make sure to find out how Kaiser handles pharmacy prescriptions, since Kaiser has in-house pharmacy services. We use CVS/Caremark and the student health center is a participating provider so, again, they submit a claim but they always bill the student account. In the case of antibiotics, you could get free antibiotics from the nearby Publix. If you take any prescriptions on a regular basis, get those filled before you leave town or your parents could get them filled and mail them to you.</p>
<p>^The Publix next to UA does not have a pharmacy. Rite Aid is across the street from the SHC and accepts most insurance plans should the SHC not accept your prescription insurance or the SHC is closed.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re really sick, the Crimson Ride will take you directly to the SHC once it has let the other passengers off at their stops. In that case, you’d need to sit in the single seat behind the driver.</p>
<p>Thanks for updating about Publix. That is too bad, since it is so close to the school. My local Publix stores all have pharmacies and I just assumed. Thanks for that correction.</p>