Hi, folks. UMD College Park has their own Student Health plan that falls under United Health Choice Plus. We currently have Kaiser here in Los Angeles. My son will be going to UMD in two weeks, and we have a decision to make:
Student Health (which means getting all new doctors here in Los Angeles or anywhere he goes for the summer), or
Stay on Kaiser (local medical center is fairly close to campus, but for his allergy shots, he’ll have to take an Uber a half hour in one direction to their allergy clinic).
@maryversity may have the answer to your question. Also, you could post your question to the University of Maryland-College Park forum. Others on that forum should have information about the student health plan. Stay fearless!
I would call Kaiser first to find out if you have out of network benefits.
If the only out-of-state coverage is by going to the Kaiser center you mentioned, the question is how frequently he needs to get his allergy shots. Half an hour each way, plus however long the wait is, can add up to a significant chunk of time and inconvenience.
Depending on the what the allergy shots are for, he may need to be evaluated for local allergens which could be entirely different serum…
Hi, Maryversity! Here’s the situation: I could transfer him to the Kaiser MidAtlantic region, which has an office in Hyattsville. It’s actually on the UMD shuttle route! But for allergy shots specifically, he’d have to travel to the Kaiser in Largo, which means a long ride there and back, every 10-14 throughout the entire school year. (FYI, initially, we wanted to wait to get him evaluated locally, but long story short, we started him on grasses/pollens/dust in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. I’m hoping the local serum wouldn’t be too different.)
The alternative, which I’m leaning toward, is to have his Kaiser allergist send the serum with him to school. He’d see a local allergist near school the day after he lands. That doctor would then authorize student health to administer the shots. (That’s how they do it; I checked with Student Health.) That would make is life simpler for sure. The real downside of this is that he would lose Kaiser coverage here at home over the summer, and we’d have to find him all new doctors for dermatology, allergy, internal medicine, etc. here in L.A. More importantly, if he wants to rejoin Kaiser for the new year in 2019, although he’s allowed to go back on our policy because he’s young, he almost can’t: UMD’s student health is an Aug. 1 - July 31 plan… There’s a four month gap between the end of his student health plan and open enrollment. Seems like a ridiculous situation, yet I can’t be the only one who has this question?
Hawk-I – I’m new here and don’t know how to post to the other forum. Sorry! The moderator actually suggested I post here.
Hmmm, that is a pickle. It seems like the allergy shot is the issue…Have you called the Student Health Center to ask how much it would cost out-of-pocket for just the injection fee if brought his own serum (and kept Kaiser)?
I’ve spoken pretty extensively with student health. They won’t give him shots unless he’s affiliated with a doctor on an insurance plan that they accept (non-Kaiser). Even then, if I kept Kaiser, I’d be paying out of pocket for both that outside doctor and the injections, about $35 a pop every 10 days- 2 weeks, in addition to Kaiser. I don’t think it’s worth the hassle and will bite the bullet and go with student health. At least it will be convenient for him and if he needs treatment for normal colds, flu, etc. he can get it really easily. The good news about the student health plan is that it’s a platinum plan, so the deductible is only $200 for the entire year of service and anything he does at student health doesn’t cost anything at all (except meds).
Sounds like you did some good research and made a good decision. There is a lot to be said for the convenience factor of going to the health center on campus! And dang, only $200 deductible? That’s awesome! My suggestion for the meds is to get a final 90 prescription for all maintenance meds on your current insurance plan before discontinuing it if the prescription coverage is better on that…