Yale University Health Plan vs "Home" Coverage ~ I'm Confused!

<p>I am a parent trying to sort out the Healthcare and Prescription coverage offered by Yale. I am tempted to decline, but it says they will not accept our "home" insurance:</p>

<p>"Please be aware that YHP does not participate with any outside insurance plan."</p>

<p>If you take the plan for a cost of $1,852, do you remove your student from your "home" health plan...We are lucky to have excellent coverage, but it sounds like this does not matter if she is treated at Yale? What then does she do in the summer for routine non emergency care?</p>

<p>Any current parents or students who can help me understand what I should do...or what you have done...it would be most appreciated.</p>

<p>Also if I am missing something on the website that explains this, please nudge me to the right spot.</p>

<p>We kept D on our plan (through H’s work). She has been treated for a variety of minor ailments over the past 3 years at the campus health service and has never been charged for any of it. Where your private insurance comes in, if you waive Yale’s coverage, is for hospitalization, specialist visits, etc: <a href=“Yale Health Center”>Yale Health Center;

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<p>Booklady, we also kept our child on H’s insurance - and when she needed Basic Coverage - all was fine. The problem arose when she was told she should see a specialist and she was told she didn’t qualify for services since she had opted out of Yale’s plan. There were a LOT of emails/phone calls back and forth from home to school, and it made a stressful situation more stressful. You are absolutely correct, we also checked the info provided by Yale, but the bad info by school personnel caused undue delays in service. As a side note, our coverage IS NOT good “out of network” so next year we are going to have her covered by Yale’s plan. Once again - if you opt out of Yale’s plan and your child needs a specialist, you may run poor information and delays. </p>

<p>As for summer, if you take Yale’s plan your student will be covered in the summer and while traveling in other countries. Once again, check your own policy about out of network coverage - our personal coverage is great locally, but not out the area.</p>

<p>worknprogress, that’s a very good point about checking out of network coverage. D did have to see a specialist once, and was referred by her Yale doctor. D called the specialist’s office and checked first to see if they took our insurance, which they did, thankfully. But I could easily envision a situation where that wasn’t the case.</p>

<p>We opted out too, here is the information about the basic coverage that ALL Y student have (from pg. 11 of the Student Handbook):</p>

<p><a href=“Yale Health Center”>Yale Health Center;

<p>Your YHP Basic coverage includes the following services at no charge:
• Primary care through the
Student Medicine or Internal
Medicine Departments.Primary
care includes wellness care such
as physical exams.
• Primary care and treatment of
sports-related problems for varsity
student athletes through the Sports
Medicine Department.
• Gynecology services,including
annual exams and Pap smears.
• Preventive medicine services,such
as routine eye exams,flu shots,and
skin cancer screenings.
• Laboratory services.
• Access to 24-hour urgent care
through the Urgent Care
Department.
• Mental health services.
• Nutritional counseling.
• Use of the Inpatient Care Facility
(infirmary).However,services of
specialty physicians,if needed,are
not covered unless you have YHP
Hospitalization/Specialty Coverage.</p>

<p>I was happy to see that eye exams are covered, as they aren’t in my policy. My D did take advantage of the flu shot last fall.</p>

<p>^ I don’t get it… If we get all that, why do we have to enroll in Yale’s Premium Plan? Why can’t that just be an option?</p>

<p>Everyone gets Yale Basic coverage at no extra charge. You can choose to keep ($1800) or opt out of the prescription part and/or hospitalization/specialist component of the premium plan. If you get an infection requiring antibiotics, you need the prescription part or you will pay for it through your own plan. If you get something like a stomach ulcer, it’s either easy with the yale hospitalization component that you paid for, or a bit more difficult through your non-Yale plan.</p>