S21’s physical for 2020 was delayed due to Coronavirus until late September. I just realized that college is probably going to want one before he goes (and even if not, it will be hard to get it done in Sept if he is out of state.) Has anyone had experience with this? I may call insurance co to see if I can get some type of waiver due to COVID (they pay for one every 12 months).
Many doctors are doing telehealth physicals this year if your son’s university requires one. The way my doctor worked it for me was a 1/2 hour telehealth appointment and then I went in for a lab draw to minimize contact and exposure. For a healthy student, I would think that would be sufficient.
That said, my d’s school didn’t require a physical, just proof of vaccinations. For students who weren’t up to date on some of the new ones (like the newer meningitis series), they offered them at the health center on campus.
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I don’t remember any college that my 3 older kids went to that required a physical. They just wanted a vaccination record.
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Thanks - I thought there might be vaccines required that he had not gotten yet. He is on the young side for his grade, not 18 yet.
DD has a late summer birthday and would have had the same issue last fall. I called the insurance company and was told they changed their policy 2 years ago to cover one physical every calendar year to keep things like that from happening. They didn’t notify anyone, just changed it. Maybe you are in the same boat.
My backup plan was to agree to pay the insurance company’s contracted rate for the physical. Any immunizations would have still been covered and my out of pocket expense would have been about $100 and I could live with that based on the convenience factor.
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Back in 2003 and 2006, both of my kids were required to have college physicals. This was NOT their annual physical…it was a college physical.
Call your insurance company. This college physical might not be considered an annual physical.
In our state, in person doctors appointments have resumed for physicals. Are you sure you have to wait until September?
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My S19 attended an instate public and if I remember correctly he just needed to check a box that he graduated from a public high school in our state. HS would have required certain immunizations. At his 18 yo annual exam, I made sure he had both meningitis vaccines. One is apparently more common, but not sure if required and the other is less common. Maybe check with the college health services to find out what would be best.
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He already had it in Sept 2020 - rescheduled from July. My issue is that the doc scheduled his next visit for 9/2021 due to insurance. And, hopefully :), he will be at college then.
My point is…a college physical might not be viewed as an “annual physical”.
I had my annual physical and then two months later had another physical…but the second one was a pre-op physical. I had to pay my copay because it wasn’t my annual,
You need to ask your insurance about this IF your kid needs a college physical.
Also, some insurance policies have one physical in a benefit year. My previous insurance was like that…one physical per calendar year, so I could have one December 31 hd another Jan 2. I never did, but I could have.
Anyway…my point is…you need to ask your insurance company how they view a college physical.
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Both my kids go their yearly physicals in the early winter of their senior year…it wasn’t required for either of their colleges. Though they did have to show proof of vaccine.
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