We are in California. D17 is currently insured through my work by a provider that doesn’t offer coverage where her school is (NYC). School’s coverage looks good, is for a full 12 months, and includes a national network of providers. Once on that plan, would you stop buying coverage for your kid on the local plan? I’m very hesitant to do that but we are talking about quite a bit of money. I would only be able to sign her up again once a year during open enrollment.
How much is it to keep your D on your family plan vs taking her off? We kept our kids on our family plan because the price difference wasn’t that different between just H & I and all of us. When you have both coverages, your D will have her policy pay for her bills as primary and your coverage as secondary. If she has some bigger bills, between the two policies she may have NO co-pay or out-of-pocket costs, which is nice. You can try to have anything you’ve been waiting on for her while you have dual coverage for her. Of course, it does depend on whether her school’s insurance covers what happens when she’s home in CA.
I took my son off of our plan when he signed up for the school plan (which was better). Now (3 years later) I’m getting better coverage with a national network, and it’s actually cheaper than the school plan. So we’re moving him back. My insurer told me that when his plan year ends, it’s a qualifying event (even though he could sign up again), so we can add him then - don’t have to wait for open enrollment. They’re pretty easygoing about it.
Keeping your child on two plans may complicate matters - one plan will be the primary and one secondary and that may mean more paperwork, etc.
It sounds like your current plan offers nothing in NY during the school year. As long as there is coverage out of NY with the school one, it’s probably okay to drop the CA one. I would strongly advise getting all checkups, etc. before changing and then making sure she knows how to access care in NY with her school plan.
From experience, I can tell you that your child may need coverage (beyond emergency ) in both locations, so you want a policy that makes that possible.
OP be careful about putting your D on two plans.
Somebody who did this posted a warning, not too long ago, about running into a nightmare of problems when one of the insurers was deemed primary and the other secondary, but both were pointing the finger at the other to pay bills. You might want to look back on the parents forum (I’d say about a month or so) to find the thread. Sounded to me like a situation to avoid.
Thanks for the replies. It looks like our current coverage will not be sufficient for a waiver from the college and once it lapses, that is a qualifying event and she can be enrolled outside of open enrollment, so we will be opting for the school’s coverage.
^^ I think you have it straight.