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 Student health insurance is being required by more colleges and universities in an attempt to save uninsured students from unexpected medical bills and to help university medical hospitals from getting stuck with the costs when student's can't pay their bills. Recent surveys indicate that between 10 and 30% of the student population does not have any healthcare insurance.
Insuring Students Against Medical Expenses
Many college students continue to be covered under their parent's heath insurance plans, and those that are not covered under a parent's plan can often purchase health insurance through a plan at their school. One benefit of purchasing directly through colleges and universities is that they offer students the purchasing power of a group plan - which can translate into lower insurance costs.
More specifically, since the school will be working with a health insurance company to provide student coverage, the students will realize a benefit due to the lower administrative costs associated with supplying services to a large population. This means students can often find much lower insurance rates compared to an individual health insurance policy.
Health Insurance and Student Eligibility
Most student health insurance plans have eligibility requirements. Many schools require that a student be enrolled at least half time to participate in the school's sponsored plan. In addition, it's becoming much more common for schools to require participation in their heath insurance plans or provide proof of insurance. This last statement is particularly true among private colleges and universities. In fact, nearly all private colleges today require attending students to carry health care insurance.
Students with preexisting health or medical conditions are often covered under the school's plan after a waiting period. For example, the school may require participation in the plan for a period of three months before covering medical expenses associated with a preexisting condition.
Most schools also extend the heath insurance coverage to a spouse or domestic partner of the student. In addition, a student with children can often obtain coverage for their entire family under their school's health insurance plan.
Costs of Student Health Insurance
The cost of student health insurance can vary considerably from school to school. For example, students at UCLA paid only around $560 for an entire year's coverage. At Ohio State University, the cost of health insurance is over $1,500 per year.
To keep insurance costs low, most schools have chosen to provide students with a health maintenance organization or HMO. This structure requires students to seek the help of doctors and other specialists participating in a network of health care providers.
Schools often attempt to control the costs of insurance further by including lifetime maximum benefits under their programs. Schools are also likely to require students to make copayments and coinsurance payments. This means that the student is financially responsible for a portion of the medical expense beyond the annual or quarterly insurance premiums.
Medical Coverage under College Healthcare Plans
The coverage provided by student health insurance plans are very similar to those offered to employees of large companies. For example, many schools will offer wellness / well care benefits such as immunizations as part of their insurance coverage. Some schools may also offer dental care insurance in addition to health insurance.
Certainly the health insurance coverage for a student under these plans is not to be confused with the typical help that is available through a campus health care center. Those centers are typically staffed by nurse practitioners and can be valuable in helping students deal with limited care medical emergencies.
The student health insurance plans offered by large colleges and universities include insurance coverage for doctor fees, hospital stays, laboratory expenses, X-rays, surgery and even maternity benefits. Although many students may be struggling to make tuition payments, the coverage offered through their school is probably a good value for the student.
Purchasing Health Insurance
To summarize, a student should carefully weigh the costs and benefits of buying health insurance through their college or university. Although many students are healthy young individuals with a lower level of need for routine health care, accidents and disease can occur. Students have enough on their minds without having to worry about finding the money to pay an unexpected medical bill.
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