<p>S's college is offering optional medical insurance (required if you don't have your own). Anyone have any experience with this type of offering? At my D's public university they did not offer this so I am somewhat confused as to the advantage it will offer for the additional cost. We have a PPO and S will be far away so everything will be out-of-network. Cost is ~$400 per year for this optional insurance.</p>
<p>Any experience?</p>
<p>I'd double check with your insu co. to see if the facilities in your s's college town are out of network, and/or how they handle coverage for college students. Many PPOs have coverage around the country. It's the POS's and HMO's that will often be the problem. I'd bet you won't need the additional coverage. My s's school wanted some extremely high amount for insu., which we absolutely didn't need with our PPO insurance. He did end up at the urgent care facility for stitches (the doc at the infirmary didn't have time to sew him up!!). The cost was of course higher at the urgent care place, but we had just the deductibles and copays to handle. Follow-up was done through the infirmary at no cost.</p>
<p>Seenitall: Check to see if college has health clinics on campus. My Dd's college lets you waive the optional medical insurance if your kid is covered elsewhere. There is also a non-optional fee for campus medical services. All kids at this college can attend clinic on campus for free (well, you actually pay for it through the tuition and fees bill...) for routine healthcare - including pap, physicals, sore throats, etc. The optional insurance your college is offering is for the big stuff. Most colleges have this setup. If your son is covered for the big stuff through your PPO, (major operations etc.), and there are health clinics on campus for the routine medical issues, then you don't need additional insurance. HTH!</p>
<p>I would check to see if the optional coverage is comprehensive enough to make it your son's primary coverage. That happened to us and it makes insurance coverage tricky at times.</p>