I don’t have any experience dealing with Yale insurance off campus, but I don’t think that’s necessary. Here’s my understanding:
If you accept Yale’s additional insurance for hospitalization and specialty coverage, your student’s health care is managed through Yale Heath, which has their own HMO on-staff specialists. If your student needs to see a specialist, or requires hospitalization, then all payment is taken care of because you paid the additional up-front cost and did NOT waive the coverage.
If you waive Yale’s additional insurance, your student’s heath care is managed through your personal health insurance. If your student needs to see a specialist, or requires hospitalization, they need to find a provider who will accept your out of state insurance or your student needs to go the Yale-New Haven Hospital (which is not part of Yale Health – yes I know it’s confusing). The hospital is a quick cab ride or a long walk away: http://www.ynhh.org
If you waive Yale’s additional insurance, and your student goes to Yale’s Student Health Center, and needs to see a specialist, Yale Student Health will automatically shuffle your child over to the specialist and you will be billed for the cost of the specialist, as you waived the coverage. If your student needs to go to the hospital, or see any doctors while admitted your personal insurance will be billed.
Thanks gibby - I believe that’s all correct. One thing additionally I just found out, is that in scenario 1 if we were to accept Yale’s insurance and drop our own insurance for our daughter, the Yale insurance isn’t very good off the Yale campus, such as over summer break - it’s for emergencies only anywhere except at Yale Health, with no coverage for routine care.
^^ When I ran the various scenarios, I hadn’t thought about dropping a child from personal insurance. But yes, If your child goes home for breaks, vacations, or the summer, Yale’s insurance is only good in New Haven, so your child would NOT be covered away from school. So, parents should not drop their personal health insurance on their student if they opt to pay for Yale’s additional coverage.
On the other hand, if your student’s current insurance is an HMO like Kaiser, the same rules apply in reverse - only emergencies are covered while the student is at Yale and not specialists - but routine care will be covered by the basic Yale service. (Yale’s basic health coverage is better than it was for my son’s undergrad college - which exemplified the meaning of ‘basic’ and was also closed on weekends and nights.) We found it was cheaper to pay for Yale’s health coverage than to continue our son’s Kaiser coverage, with lower co-pays and deductibles. So it will all depend on your current health care for your student.
^^^ Wow! You are the FIRST person I know of that recommends paying for Yale’s additional health coverage because it’s BETTER and CHEAPER than their own personal health insurance! I’m not sure whether that speaks in favor of Yale Health or against Kaiser!
@gibby my son had a Kaiser HSA high deductible plan and still paid more per month than he now does with the Yale plan, which has no deductible and covers 100%. But he is also over 21 which makes a difference in the monthly cost.
^^ Conversely, my son had a low deductible plan ($250 per year with 100% of out of state coverage beyond the deductible). For our family, it made absolutely no sense to accept Yale’s Additional Heath Plan, as it was duplicative coverage – and inferior to Empire Blue Cross / Blue Shield, which has low deductibles and does not charge additional money for student’s over 21. However, I completely agree with your statement
I agree that each family’s case will be different. The design of the Yale plan to me seems in general more appealing for graduate students, many of whom are in New Haven all year and in some cases are too old to be on their parents’ plans in any case, than for undergraduates.
The aspect of coverage in New Haven only is a deal breaker in my view for undergraduates who don’t happen to live nearby or stay in New Haven for the summer.