<p>I am in Georgia and am looking for some health insurance that will cover typical doctor visits and possibly mental health services....</p>
<p>I know it really expensive.</p>
<p>And I am clueless as to where to look...or even how to get it.</p>
<p>My university offers it from Pearson and Pearson for $581 a month...</p>
<p>I meant Pearce and Pearce...</p>
<p>I do not understand anything about health insurance as fa as different deductables are concerned.</p>
<p>Try looking at ehealthinsurance.com to compare policies.</p>
<p>I would recheck the cost with your college; that sounds more like the premium for the whole semester, not monthly.</p>
<p>Just a word of advice to all about the importance of student health insurance. Most schools now require students to either sign up for the college's heath insurance or show proof of being covered under their parents' plan(s). But don't forget about summers if you use a college plan. </p>
<p>S1 was on our insurance all through undergrad. But once in grad school, he was no longer covered. I went through the summer between undergrad & grad holding my breath that nothing happened. However, this summer, I pestered him at the end of the year until he signed up for the summer student coverage extension, and I even paid the $120-125 fee. A month later, he had appendicitis! I think this truly brought home to him the importance of having insurance. There is a hefty deductible but that small fee will save us a lot of money. </p>
<p>Young people think they're invincible, especially those who have never had any health problems. We warn them about college loan debt, but it is equally important to warn them about the consequences of not having insurance. When I think of all the health problems that college age kids I've known have encountered--car accidents, broken limbs from skiing trips, pneumonia or mono, appendicitis--all these can be extremely costly if you have no insurance, not to mention can't work at your part-time job so have no other income at all. Of course, there are all kinds of drawbacks to some student insurance plans as has been discussed in other threads, but it's certainly better than nothing.</p>
<p>AHeartlikehis,
are you covered under a parents insurance, because you may not need student coverage. Also check with the college, often the services at the health center are free for students and the coverage only comes into play when you need diagnostics and treatments like CAT scan, MRI, etc</p>
<p>After a job/insurance change we found that our son was excluded from our insurance because his dad didn't get confirmation of our son's full-time college enrollment sent from the college to his insurance company before their deadline.
(We had not experienced this requirement before--our oldest son turned 19 the year of the job change, and our old insurance company only required that WE check a box confirming that, YES, he was a full time student).</p>
<p>With the new employer, although our son qualified for insurance as a 19/20 yo full-time student, he was kicked off our list of dependents because of this missing form. We only found out about the requirement this summer-- AFTER he had dental work done and the insurance company wouldn't pay. . .(and after assuming he was covered all year because his dad did enroll him--good thing he had no emergencies). Although I protested, I got absolutely no sympathy from the employer, benefits coordinator, or insurance company--so we are stuck with the bills, even after paying for the insurance coverage.</p>
<p>Don't let this happen to you. Find out what kind of documentation your employer requires and follow their rules to the letter--and confirm that any necessary forms are returned by the college. And read your benefits manual cover to cover. Remember, insurance companies aren't there to spend money. Excluding qualified people from their coverage on technicalities is just another way they can save a buck.</p>
<p>atomom, thanks for that bit of advice. S2 is getting ready to leave for a OOS college, and I never thought of that. We always received forms for S1 to verify his student status (for us to sign), but now I'm not sure whether they came from the ins. co. or from the university (he went to the univ. at which we work). I'm on the hold now waiting to check.</p>
<p>DO NOT GO WITHOUT INSURANCE.</p>
<p>Really. My daughter, age 23 and very healthy, (she's fine) was hit by a car 2 months ago. Collarbone broken in four places, banged up knee. In the scheme of things, this is a relatively minor cycling accident. The drivers' insurance will eventually cover medical expenses... which so far total over $6000. They'd be higher if the high-deductible policy she has (Blue Shield, $2500 deductible) weren't using their rates.</p>
<p>My daughter's boyfriend was also hit by a car while cycling some weeks later. No major injuries--which is fortunate because the drunk who hit him had no insurance and was driving a stolen car--and is still missing after running off after the accident. Still, his emergency room visit will not be covered by any insurance--and will cost someone $1000 or so in the end.</p>
<p>A simple appendectomy can cost $25000--and if either parent has had appendicitis, the child's risk is 7x that of the general public. And it most commonly hits in the teens/twenties.</p>
<p>Most states have some sort of relatively inexpensive extremely high deductible insurance if you do a search on "<state name=""> health insurance". My son pays $49/month in California for his insurance--$2500/year deductible. My D's is $80/month here in WA.</state></p>
<p>I agree with the previous poster who stated to double-check that insurance cost from the college. It shouldn't be anything like $581 per month. If you have no other insurance, sign up for the college's which should cover what you indicate. You still, however, need to make sure you have some kind of coverage during the summer when you're not in school.</p>
<p>Do your parents have health insurance? If so, it seems that you'd already be on that. Most companies allow a kid to stay on until age 25 as long as they're a full time student.</p>
<p>Check that stuff about the kid remaining on the parent's insurance until they graduate. My kids were literally off the policy the DAY THEY GRADUATED from college and not one day more. The insurance company called to find out what day they were graduating.</p>
<p>With our insurance company, the kids were off the family policy on the first day of the month following their next birthday after they graduated. So each company is different and it pays to check long before graduation. We looked into COBRA coverage but it was much more expensive than a new individual policy with a high deductible.</p>
<p>Also, if you have to worry about whether a provider is in or out of your network, check to see whether the college location has any providers in your network. I found out today that our network is very limited near daughter's school and she is going in-state!</p>