<p>The U my D will be attending offers health insurance to students at what appears to be a much cheaper rate than what we are currently paying. How do other parents (&/or students) decide which health insurance to use, do we stick with what she has or switch her to the university's? Any advice would be appreciated because we have to let the school know soon.</p>
<p>Ask for a copy of the policy so you can read it over & see what coverage, deductibles, gaps there are and make an informed decision, beside a copy of the policy you currently have. For us, there was no extra charge with our kids being on hubby’s policy (it made us “family” rather than him as a single). When S was set to age out because he was turning 22, we got the university’s policy so he’s covered until his job starts covering him (hopefully soon, as his U policy ends in mid Aug).</p>
<p>A friend bought both the U policy & kept his kids on their Kaiser policy after one of his college kids ended up badly hurt & he incurred heavy medical bills because they got her treated at the nearest place which was NOT a Kaiser facility.</p>
<p>Not all medical insurance policies are alike and it’s important to have a good understanding of what is and is NOT covered so your kid & you aren’t guessing and hestitating to have the care that keeps them strong & healthy. Our policy covered our kids well OOS, as long as they went to participating & preferred docs under the BCBS system. We haven’t had S go to docs under his U system, so aren’t sure how well his coverage will be, but expect it should be OK.</p>
<p>does she have any ongoing medical issues? Needs to see specialists? And does she take prescriptions of any kind and does your policy have a prescription plan?</p>
<p>We’ve found that the U’s programs cost less but offer less. Our kids were healthy so it wasn’t a concern- we were really just buying the Major Medical. But if either had been under the care of a specialist I think our plans from work would have been a better deal in the end. One trip to an out-of-plan specialist with some tests is probably the difference in the premium cost. Even blood work can be several hundred dollars…</p>
<p>Agree with Blossom that ESPECIALLY if your kid has ongoing medical issues, it’s important to know the specific terms of the policy and coverage.</p>
<p>The plan at our kids’ U has a good Rx & medical coverage but is limited on how you can use docs out of state (OK during breaks only, otherwise needs pre-authorization).</p>
<p>Yes, please get a copy of the policy.</p>
<p>Most of the school policies that I have seen offer a relatively low limit on total medical coverage - for example, $100,000. This can be exceeded relatively quickly with a serious illness.</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies. Very helpful as I didn’t think of ANY of the above criteria at all. My D is pretty healthy, but she did have one thing that was fairly serious from November to January and she does take two prescription meds. I think we’ll call our ins. co first and see what they cover when she is out of state. Also, being covered during breaks is something to look into if we were to use the school’s plan.
I wish I could just focus on the fun stuff, like planning a grad party and shopping at BB&Beyond-oh well, guess I have to act like a parent! : )</p>
<p>Yes, the major medical cap is very important. It’s best if it’s at leats $1 million (our kids’ U has that cap & requires families who want to have their insurance instead also have that as a minimum cap).</p>
<p>You will have lots of time for the “fun staff.” For many Us, there may also be a 2nd fee for the health center, where all students can come buy for shots, quick checks for colds and minor injuries on campus as well. This is not to be confused with the U’s health insuirance premiums. For us, opting out of the health insurance saved us over $1K/kid each year.</p>
<p>I researched this for our S. At my work place, S is covered at no additional cost under our Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy. When I called, they have a separate person who deals with issues related to college student coverage transfers. Boy, was she ever knowledgable, it was awesome.</p>
<p>S will be attending Northwestern U. She was able to describe how the coverage will work in Illinois, how he will want to carry both the CA and IL cards for any prescription needs, when he needs to apply for the IL card, how close participating MDs are to campus, etc.</p>
<p>The only annoying part (which is somewhat understandable) is that the paperwork will have to be filled out twice a year. I haven’t seen it yet, but if it’s just standard, it’s a small price to pay to keep our already paid for coverage. The Aetna coverage offered by the university is not cheap, and the tuition, r & b at NU is already pricey. As it is, he’ll still have to pay a fee (I think it’s around $200/year, non-negotiable), for the student health center for minor stuff.</p>
<p>Interesting how different things are. For us, we only needed a letter each year from the insurer that our kids were covered and that coverage was as good/better than the Us so they could be exempted out. We had to fill out the form annually for the entire year and that was it. The U’s insurance is good but hubby’s policy is better and we’ve had no problems to date.</p>
<p>Thanks - just reminded me that I have to fill out the waiver form at my S’s school for next year - which I just did!</p>
<p>as we still have another child on our policy…even dropping this son would not change our premium so getting another would add expense…we will be keeping son on ours</p>
<p>If we keep her on ours, there is a waiver and another form. I do want to check what happens if she visits health center on campus. Wow, so much to learn. . .
Does it get easier with year 2?</p>
<p>Visits to the health center on campus are usually covered by the Student Health Fee that every student has to pay.</p>
<p>Yes, it gets easier with year 2 - but, in the meantime, you have all of us to help you!</p>
<p>Poligirl- by year two you will have confidence that your D knows the difference between feeling sick because she hasn’t slept and has had too many Red Bulls, vs. feeling sick because she has the flu and/or worse.</p>
<p>Year one is the hard part.</p>
<p>Yea, it does get easier with year two. </p>
<p>It’s also important for the kiddo to have a good check up before heading off to college, including all shots (tetnus booster, meningitis, HPV). Also have them have a list of ALL their conditions, docs’ names & contact info, all their meds (inclouding doses, frequency of taking, how to get refills). </p>
<p>S was alert enough to call me when the info he was given at the health center didn’t make sense, to be sure the medication he was prescribed wouldn’t conflict or double-up with what he was already using for his asthma. The info he had been given from the health center was incorrect but we were able to work around it & get him what he needed.</p>
<p>Make sure your kids have no reluctance to go to the health center or seek medical attention “because they think it’s too expensive.” That’s really important & also to persist in case their complaint is minimized but they are having real pain/discomfort.</p>
<p>I would keep your own insurance coverage. Every year there are students who don’t finish a semester or school year…no one thinks it is going to happen to their child, but it does, for a variety of reasons. I have no idea if a school’s policy covers the student if the student withdraws from school, but I’d hate to take that risk. The withdrawl can be a crisis situation during which many would not think to read the fine print in the insurance policy.</p>
<p>We kept both kids on ours despite having to pay for additional mandated insurance at S’s school because he is an international there. My insurance already covers my kids to age 26 for a minimal fee. I didn’t want to discontinue home insurance anyway in the event of catastrophic illness/injury.
D goes to student center as needed, gets a bursar bill for services and we submit for reimbursement. Kind of a pain, but not too bad.</p>
<p>We kept D on our plan, but first we made sure that our plan had a number of “in network” healthcare providers in the city where her school is. Very important if you are on an HMO plan.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the fine print, and made a dumb mistake. D takes two meds regularly. I just had to put her back on H’s plan after she blew through her prescription coverage by April. Be wary of low prescription caps in college plans–some of today’s medications can cost in the multiple hundreds of dollars (you won’t even be aware of the true cost if you are used to paying a low co-pay) and every penny of that costs counts against the cap.</p>
<p>We faced this dilemma- D’s college required that the student be covered because of state law where she attends school. We called our insurance company and they told us they would only pay for emergency coverage and that any other services D needed would have to be provided through our network (here.) Given that she is in school on the other side of the country, this would obviously be problematic . We kept her on our policy, in case something catastrophic happened, and bought coverage through the school for those health issues that were less severe. </p>
<p>Do call your insurance provider and see what your policy covers. We were stunned at the way our provider handles coverage for college students who live out of state. And, yes, it is one more expense :-(</p>