<p>Reminder to all incoming and continuing students (and their parents):</p>
<p>The student health insurance waiver/enrollment is now online and available for Fall 2011.</p>
<p>All students MUST have valid health insurance. You MUST fill out the waiver/enrollment form
by July 10. If you do not have valid health insurance (or don't fill out a waiver request) you will be automatically enrolled in the UR health insurance plans, which costs $1776/year. The charge will added to your July 15 tuition bill.</p>
<p>The link is here: University</a> Health Service</p>
<p>(look on the right hand side of the page under Health Insurance)</p>
<p>Also, note you still have to pay a health fee. From the site:</p>
<p>“Your visits to the physicians, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses at the University Health Service and therapists at the University Counseling Center are covered by the mandatory health fee. All full-time students have a primary care provider (PCP) at the University Health Service.”</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>“Fees for students needing laboratory testing, prescription medication, and other similar services are billed to the student’s insurance plan. Other options for payment include paying at the time of the visit or sending the charge to the student’s tuition bill (Bursar). Generic prescription medications dispensed by UHS to students covered by the University-sponsored insurance will be billed directly to the insurance plan and not applied to the prescription medication deductible.”</p>
<p>If you buy the health insurance, which I think is through Aetna, you don’t have a copay for drugs until you hit $250. </p>
<p>Not trying to talk anyone into spending the money but realize you may have issues with your health insurer if you don’t live in NY because all health insurers define a “service area” and anywhere outside that area is considered “out of network.” Check your policy. This limits coverage to emergency and so-called “urgent care.” You may have to argue with your insurer about what exactly “urgent care” is: it generally means you see a doctor when needed and follow-ups as needed but insurers regularly deny coverage for this, particularly for follow-ups, until you keep calling them, etc. BTW, if you call your insurer you may well be told the kid isn’t covered when at school because it’s out of the service area. That is wrong. They will likely be polite but they will be wrong.</p>
<p>Last bit, if you need allergy shots, the best thing is to get your serum from your doctor, have it packed up tight, keep it refrigerated and then deliver it to UHS (the health building next to SueB). You will need to see your assigned primary care doctor and then you can schedule shots. It generally works ok, though you may experience frustrations with their scheduling.</p>
<p>One other thing to remember, while UR’s student health plan coverage is good for 12 months, it does NOT cover students who are not present on campus during the summer. Students not in Rochester and not using UHS as their PCP are “out of network” and must pay for their medical care and prescriptions out of pocket and meet all deductibles for out of network services before they can be reimbursed by Aetna.</p>
<p>This can be problematic if your kid is home for the summer and doesn’t have any other coverage. Or if they have a internship somewhere other than Rochester.</p>
<p>As an editorial: this shows the rotten state of insurance in this country. You pay for coverage as an American in the US and can’t get coverage because you happen to be on the other side of a geographical line drawn within the US. You could be 5 miles outside of the service area or 3000 miles and you lose many of your benefits and have to fight battles to get what you’re due.</p>