<p>Question I want to float out there. Maryland offers an insurance plan for students that costs $1200/year. From what I understand it removes the cost of basic infirmary visits and greatly reduces all other medical expenses you might incur, while using the school's medical services. If you don't take, you must have other viable insurance. However the on campus medical does not currently take assignment of your insurance so you'll be submitting those for reimbursement. Obviously it depends on your plan, etc...(out of network or not etc...), but I was interested in getting an idea as to how many are planning on taking the school's insurance or not and why. Clearly you still need other insurance if you take the schools as if there is a need for off campus treatment you need coverage but it would reduce the cost of the majority of medical treatment which is on campus.</p>
<p>Your student insurance will cover you if the school determines that you need additional treatment off campus, hospitalization, etc.</p>
<p>We have private insurance, so it was much cheaper to get the student insurance than to cover them with a policy. If we were under an employers plan, we would have stayed with that unless they wouldn’t cover providers in the area (we live OOS).</p>
<p>astrophysicsmom… how are your kids covered when they come home from school on breaks and summer if they only have the school insurance? I am OOS so I am worried that I will need the school insurance because I will be out of network but I need to be covered on breaks and summer</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the summary of benefits. (United Healthcare is the provider of the UMD-purchased insurance). When you sign up, it is a one-year policy, from August 15 to the next August 14. Since United Health is a major carrier, most likely there are “preferred providers” near where you’ll be over the summers, or you have the option of going out of network, and paying more deductible and copay.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.uhcsr.com/uhcsrbrochures/Public/OtherDocuments/2010-2071-Benefit%20Summary-v3.pdf[/url]”>https://www.uhcsr.com/uhcsrbrochures/Public/OtherDocuments/2010-2071-Benefit%20Summary-v3.pdf</a></p>
<p>To find this, I googled United Healthcare Student Insurance, and entered University of Maryland as the school. That’s how you can get to the detailed plan information. This is available without looking at a specific student account (i.e. I didn’t sign in as either of my daughters to get this). Hope it helps.</p>
<p>I actually have a plan that only covers me in NY (my family’s plan) so it was necessary for me to get the school’s policy in case anything happened down here.</p>
<p>In my experience it is cheaper getting quotes online. Some of the top insurance companies offer discounts when ordering online, because it is less work for them. But to be safe you could compare rates online, pick the best offer and try a local agency to see if they can match it or do better.</p>
<p>I recommend this site for online comparing: [url=<a href=“http://www.quotes-center.com/average-cost-of-health-insurance]http://www.../average-cost-of-health-insurance[/url”>http://www.quotes-center.com/average-cost-of-health-insurance]http://www…/average-cost-of-health-insurance[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Also it seems like you have outside insurance already but you’re hoping to save on campus?
This is not in any way a savings unless you expect to be using the health center constantly. Yes, your on campus visit is covered, but that’s fifteen dollars. If you’re from Maryland/have in insurance in Maryland, anything off campus is covered by them. If you have insurance anywhere your emergency room visit would be covered. The maryland insurance doesn’t cover a lot of testing that they can do at the health center. You won’t save on medication ESPECIALLY if you have another plan because that plan would superceed this one. Plus the allottment for medication each year is 1500 dollars. If you aren’t the type to hit that, then you don’t need the added medical care. If you are the type to hit that (I personally knock it out in a month) then you need better coverage than what Maryland provides.</p>