My son will be attending OSU in the fall. We are from Illinois and have medical insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. My son is currently covered under our BCBS Illinois plan (Blue Choice PPO).
A quick search of all doctors and medical service providers in Columbus on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois website returned zero results. So I am not sure if the Columbus-area hospitals and doctors would be considered as out-of-network.
So I am rather unsure about which insurance option to get for my son. The Wilce plan sound good, but it is limited to just $2000 coverage a year.
Anyone in the same boat? Any inputs would be appreciated.
I am also from Illinois with a PPO (Healthlink). I called my insurance company and they were very helpful with all of my questions. Based on the Drs and treatment facilities in Columbus that are available with our plan I was able to just go with the Wilce plan.
Thank you for your input. I will probably get the Wilce option for my son as well.
@prithis i am in same position as you and decided on taking the Wilce option, because i likely will have to spend more for the out-of-network fee and co-pay during the months of september thru December. And starting in January i will have to first meet my son’s yearly deductible before i can get reimbursed by my insurance at the out-of-network rate. So if my son has a few visits to the healthcare office during fall and winter terms, my out-of-pocket costs will probably be less under the Wilce option, because all his visits would be covered.
Sound advice, thanks a ton!
We live in Ohio, 2 hours south, and I almost opted out of the supplemental plan last year thinking my daughter wouldn’t use it but could come home for doctor’s appointments. She ended up sick midway through winter (didn’t even tell me), then had tonsil stones, and was able to have both taken care of at the health center at no charge thanks to Wilce. She also uses the health center as a convenient place to fill her birth control prescription (again at no charge), so it ended up being worth it.
We have Aetna which luckily is in network for the student health center. Be sure to check the web site for the list of insurance companies that treat the student health center this way