<p>Has anybody who waived the SHIP plan tell about their experiences with Gannett, and specifically how they submitted claims and were reimbursed? (Especially with BlueCross BlueShield). The fact that Cornell won't submit claims directly to my insurance plan that is used nationwide is making my head spin</p>
<p>I would also like to know this. Preferably with CHAMPVA, but I’m sure chances of having it is slim</p>
<p>The problem with having insurances other than SHIP is that Cornell only takes a few insurances. If using services like physical therapy you would have to submit claims to your company through mail or some other fashion. For regular physicians’ checkups, though, it’s only $10 per visit. Some other services are also that same cost. Then you have medications, which should be covered much easier I think.</p>
<p>We are going to be waiving SHIP and using BCBS as well. It’s a pain that the don’t bill our insurance directly, but IMO not enough of a pain to spend extra $$$$ on SHIP when we already have good health insurance.</p>
<p>Just go through the waiver process and you will not be charged for SHIP. However, if you do decide to use your own health insurance, make sure you go to whatever place BCBS tells you to for health care. Last fall I had a nasty ear infection and went to Gannett on a Friday morning before a weekend-long marching band trip to get a diagnosis and hopefully some relief from the pain. I got a regular checkup and a throat culture(I suspected that I had mono). When I got back on Sunday I found an email from my Mom asking why I had been bursared for $200. >_></p>
<p>We had waived the insurance but I must tell you that if we were to have kids start over at Cornell and money was not as tight I would have them take SHIP. We had two at Cornell and althought we have great insurance with Aetna I was always concerned about one of my kids needing a specialist while at school. We were lucky that the medical bills from Gannet only came to a few hundred dollars total in the four years both kids were there. They would go to Gannet for strep throats, two cases of mono, sinus infections, stomach virus, etc… If you could swing the $1800 each year than give yourself the peace of mind. The year my two had mono (last year) we actually brought them home for a week (that sick) where they ended up seeing their docs here at home two times that week. </p>
<p>My husband did the math and some calculations and figured that it was not worth another $15,000 for us to get it…I DISAGREE. Like I said we were just lucky that they never needed any ongoing medical attention.</p>
<p>To the poster above…if the $200 was all your mom paid for your out of pocket bills at Gannet than she too was lucky, and she saved what she would have paid for SHIP. It really is a matter of how much risk are you willing to take…my husband is more of a risk taker than I am.</p>
<p>I’m confused. I called Gannet and they told me it was only $10 for a sick visit whether you had SHIP or not. Was it the throat culture that came to so much, or was I mis-informed? If you paid out of pocket for a throat culture, wouldn’t your insurance reimburse you for some percentage of the cost (after deductible)?</p>
<p>Our BCBS plan will cover our S seeing a specialist in Ithaca, and there are several in-network specialists they could see (off-campus, but doesn’t everyone have to go off campus to see a specialist). It looks like the hospitals in Ithaca are also in-network for our plan. </p>
<p>So it seemed like we were just “risking” the inconvenience of having to pay up-front for services received at Gannett, and getting our insurance to pay them back at out-of-network rates. And it didn’t seem likely to us that our S would need to use enough services at Gannett that 30% of them (our co-insurance) would exceed the cost of SHIP, but perhaps I’m missing something here?</p>
<p>So if you experienced students/parents can help me see what the risks/tradeoffs are, I’d appreciate it. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>^It depends…Our insurance made it clear that any doctors that our kids had to see in Ithaca would not be in our plan and as a result would be out of pocket. We were lucky in that neither one needed to see a specialist and were taken care of at Gannet. They did have cultures, blood work, and some other non major stuff but in retrospect it was very risky not to have them trully covered. I would not do that again. I suspect that if either one needed emergency service we probably would have had a hard time getting the insurance company to pay since they were attending school there. I would advice that everyone check with their Insurance company and see if they would cover them if they needed to be hospitalized or seen in an emergency room. Like I said we were taking a big chance. For those kids who really live far away they should absolutely get the coverage because they are not going to be able to go home or get home easily if they get mono or some other nasty bug. The same goes for a broken bone or sprained anything. My son had a friend that needed his apendix taken out and he did not have SHIP …parents paid out of pocket for all cost.</p>
<p>I hope that helps…again just ask insurance co if they will cover him at an Ithaca specialist or hospital while he is attending school there. If they say yes ask to where it reads in the policy to ensure you are getting correct info.</p>
<p>Ok, our plan is national and includes both in-network and out-of-network care (at different reimbursement rates) so I don’t think we are taking as much of a risk. I’ll check with our plan for full details of how things would be covered in Ithaca but my understanding is it would be fully covered as at home for in-network care (including something like an appendectomy at an Ithaca hospital) and 70% of reasonable-and-customary after deductible for out-of-network. I know you can get really taken for a ride on the R&C stuff but it still would be unlikely for us to spend $1800 out of pocket unless something comes up like needing physiotherapy which is much easier to get on-campus and out-of-network.</p>
<p>I would say with that kind of coverage (but again ask specific questions) than I would not see the need to get SHIP. I gather you are in Vermont as your handle suggests. I would schedule all Dr, dental and lab work that your son needs when he is home. The rest he will do fine with at Gannet. We were very pleased with the Drs our sons saw. At one point a specialist was recommended and he was about to go but he drove home that night and saw one at home the following day…as I said we were just lucky and I am admitting to doing something very stupid. They just were not covered good enough.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your feedback and advice, momma-three.</p>
<p>S just had both a medical and dental checkup at home, so he’s in good shape from that point of view. We should probably do an eye appointment at some point too, but he’s away for the summer and won’t be home until just before orientation starts, so we’ll have to do it on a break. </p>
<p>My primary questions for our health insurance company are:
- under what conditions does our son lose his coverage under our plan (in particular, what if he has to take a medical leave of absence from school)?
- what kind of coverage do we have if an out-of-network provider (Gannett) orders labs, x-rays, etc.
- double-checking that Cayuga Medical Center is considered in-network</p>
<p>I’ve already done online searches and found many in-network specialists near Cornell for all the types of issues my S is most likely to need to see a specialist for. The network is quite decent, thankfully. (I have had coverage with a poor network before, and my employer is out of state, so for a while all my family’s doctors were out-of-network, and that was expensive! Still safe from catastrophic expenses, but not fun.)</p>
<p>We had BCBS PPO when D1 was in school, which meant she could go to any doctor she wanted to go to. We did find specialists in network, and she did use them as much as possible. Going to Gannet was quite inexpensive, and if I remember correctly they did use labs in the BCBS network, and she also had few precriptions filled at Gannet and we were bursared. We just submitted those claims and were reimbursed by BCBS accordingly.</p>
<p>To have D1 remain on our insurance was no extra cost to us, having insurance for youn people is really just for major medical, so I didn’t see any reason of paying extra $1200/year. I also elected high deductible and used pre-tax money to fund the deduction, and it was cheaper.</p>