Saving money on full (no annual limit) student health insurance

Parent Cafe
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<p>If you have to pay for your employer to cover dependents and are trying to decide whether to opt for your employer's plan or the school's plan, this may be of some use. I'm sorry it's rather long. </p>

<p>If you are an insurance pro and know of any better options, please let me know. My goal is the most comprehensive and convenient coverage for the best price. Duh.</p>

<p>For the upcoming year the health care law requires college insurance plans to offer at least $500,000 coverage for the year. While rates are increasing due to the recent mandated increases in coverage, the new policies are much more likely to offer coverage that is competitive with many employer provided plans. My son's school plan with Aetna will cost $2,695 for the 2013-14 school year. It covers him for a full year, and most of our family's current doctors are on the plan.</p>

<p>Covering my son through my husband's employer is $8,016 per year with Kaiser. Covering him through my work is $9,612 per year with HealthNet. They're both super expensive plans because we live in a very high cost area and they are excellent plans with very low out-of-pocket maximums.</p>

<p>There are a few exclusions in the school's plan that do not exist in our employer provided plans, but the coverage is overall quite similar, other than the $500,000 annual limit with the school plan. I am uncomfortable dropping unlimited coverage for my son (I'm paranoid enough to think that the minute one drops down to a more limited plan, one's odds of being hit by a truck increase exponentially). At the same time, the school plan is very attractive. It will save us from $ 5,321 to $6,917 over what I would pay with our employer provided policies. It will also work seamlessly with the on campus care provided by the student health service, avoiding the need to submit claims for the care he is likely to use the most. If we covered him with Kaiser we would have to pay out of pocket for much of the campus provided care. The dilemma is whether it is worth it to sacrifice unlimited coverage for substantial cost savings and greater convenience.</p>

<p>After doing some research, I've come up with a solution to this dilemma. I was hoping to find a supplemental policy that would cover my son only for the risk above $500,000 per year that the school plan does not cover. A product like this should be very inexpensive, as the odds that the insurer would ever have to pay anything would be extremely low. Unfortunately, no one sells such a product (This makes sense, because starting in 2014-15 the health care law requires student health plans to have no annual limits - It's a product that will not be needed in the future). </p>

<p>The product I did find that will meet our needs is a bit more expensive, but it is still advantageous. Though there are no policies that begin coverage at $500,000, I can purchase a high ($6,000) deductible unlimited coverage Blue Cross or Blue Shield policy for my son for between $110 and $150 per month. This will cost us, at the worst, $1,800 per year. If I purchase both his school plan and the additional high deductible policy, we'll be spending less than $4,500 for full coverage for the year. We'll save at least $3,500 over the cost of covering our son through our employers, he'll have the convenience of free on campus care, and he'll have the unlimited coverage that I need to make me feel secure.</p>

<p>In 2014-15 our costs should drop again when we can cancel the high deductible policy, because the student insurance plan will have no annual limits. I am 100% certain that the cost of the new, unlimited student plans will be less than the cost of purchasing two plans (where I'll be paying for double coverage of risk between $6,000 and $500,000 per year).</p>

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<p>The school coverage four kids’ schools in the past were considerably lower but probably had less coverage and didn’t cover the summer. Still, that’s about the biggest number I’ve seen for school health coverage.</p>

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<p>I would need to check on my plan stuff (did it last November), but the costs to us for having the kids on our insurance was pretty small. It could be that our employer is picking up a lot of the costs for kids carried on our insurance. Our son’s insurance with his own plan would have been about $5,000. There’s no cost to us to add him as our daughter is already on our plan. Of course he’ll have to go on his own in a year or two.</p>

<p>We are in a relatively low-cost-of-living area so maybe there’s some rate benefits there.</p>

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<p>Sounds like you have thought this through. I also prefer having health insurance that has no limits. We are fortunate that H’s policy covers all of us, including kids under 26 for the same reasonable premium as if it were just me and H.</p>

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<p>It is not expensive to have dependents on my health insurance so I am not purchasing the student health plan through my younger daughter’s school. It is included, and we can’t opt out, at my older daughter’s school but she is still on my health insurance also and the school insurance isn’t too expensive. All it covers is visits to a clinic but that has been sufficient for the past three years and she suffered a serious burn (from a hot glue gun) on her leg at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year. I don’t think our family insurance has been charged for any of our older daughter’s visits to her school’s health clinic but we do have to pay $723/school year for her health and wellness fee.</p>

<p>I guess my only question about the student health insurance is if it goes through the summer or just through the school year. My older daughter’s coverage is only while she’s at school and we would have to pay extra if she were to go to school during the summer.</p>

<p>FWIW, my friend’s family has high deductible insurance and they have to pay almost everything out of pocket yet still pay their monthly premiums which don’t end up covering anything because they rarely go over their $6,000 deductible.</p>

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<p>I really miss the days when my husband’s insurance covered dependents (mine never did). Up until a few years ago, his company covered everyone. My employer even paid me (with contributions to a flexible benefit plan) for not taking my insurance. A few years back they started requiring a contribution toward coverage of dependents. Then two years ago they started to require us to pay the full cost of dependent care. The net impact has been a significant reduction of our take home pay each year for the past couple of years. </p>

<p>It also means that we’re covered by different plans, which can be a bit confusing at times. Next school year we’ll be on three different plans, and I’ll have to know the ins and outs of all of them. Because my husband’s employer has just decided to only offer Kaiser as of July 1, he’ll be on Kaiser, I’ll be on HealthNet, and our son will be on Aetna (plus whatever high deductible plan I decide to purchase in addition to the school plan). I’m also going to have to put my son on HealthNet for one month (after my husband’s employer switches to Kaiser only, and before my son’s school policy begins) over the summer. What a complete PITA!</p>

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<p>Just keep in mind that rates and options are considerably variable from one state to another – especially right now with things somewhat in flux. I live in California which is ahead of the curve in setting up the ACA exchanges – they’ve just announced their rates which look pretty attractive at the low end. So I think everyone will just need to keep doing their research for the next few years until things settle down, as prices & options may remain somewhat in flux. There is a strong motivation for the insurance companies to compete for customers at this point, at all levels.</p>

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<p>What about private insurance? You can just buy a pan that is neither through your work, the school, or your husband’s work.</p>

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<p>You might want to verify that this is not a problem with either one of the insurors. If there is a big claim, the last thing you want is for both of the insurance companies to claim their policy is excess over the other policy.</p>

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<p>You might want to check individual health insurance plans. If your college student is healthy, you should be able to at least look at individual plans and compare the coverage to the college plan. One of my kids missed out on the coverage for kids until age 26…and his first individual plan with anthem was $200 a month including RX coverage. His current plan is with United Health Care…and to be honest, I’m not impressed with them. But his plan is a $2500 deductible…but he bought a rider so that his copay for office visits is $35. It is $180 a month including RX and dental.</p>

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Stanford’s optional health insurance is about $3,600 per year, plus a mandatory $700 fee for the health center on campus. It’s an EPO that’s quite comprehensive as long as we use Stanford facilities (e.g. Stanford Hospital and Clinics) and not so amazing anywhere else. It’s a reasonable policy for grad students who live on campus year-round, less suited for undergrads who spend their breaks elsewhere.</p>

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<p>I do feel silly paying twice for the coverage from $6,000 to $500,000, but I like most things about the school plan. I love that it means zero paperwork and cost for services on campus, and that most of our family’s current doctors are in the network. This seems ideal for care at school and at home over the summer. The co-pays for RX and office visits are similar to our current, very expensive coverage. It has some weird exclusions (treatment for flat feet?), but includes other things our current coverage does not (removal of impacted wisdom teeth). </p>

<p>As far as which policy comes first, I assume this will not be an issue. The high deductible policy was suggested to me by a pretty savvy independent agent who suggested it as the only way to buy the additional coverage I want at a do-able price. I will, however, ask her that question specifically.</p>

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<p>This does not surprise me at all. Bay Area health care costs are crazy high. I was more surprised to learn that other posters thought that the $2,695 for insurance at my son’s school was on the high side. Living in the Bay Area (and being expected to pay between $8-10k to cover our son through an employer plan), I thought that $2,695 sounded like a bargain. With the school plan we get the advantage of covering him outside of our ridiculously high priced market.</p>