Lisa R. Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 I have a question regarding health insurance plan for a university student in the US. Please, no bashing US healthcare on this thread. I acknowledge it's a mess. My adult dd has some chronic health issues and also has health insurance. She works for a school district. It is terrible health insurance as she has a high deductible and also has to pay 20% of her doctor or hospital bills after deductible is met. She is a graduate student at a local university. It appears this university offers health insurance for their students, even graduate students. It is amazing insurance with an affordable premium, low deductible and great coverage. She could get coverage from 8/15/18-8/14/19 (she finishes her master's program in the spring) with the option to extend it for 6 more months at a similar monthly rate. This seems too good to be true. What am I missing? Can she keep her school district health insurance, just to keep eligible, and also get the insurance the university offers? She could use the university insurance as her primary insurance she files at her doctor visits. Is this allowed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 If she is 25 or under I believe that she can be covered under her parents' insurance. That might be the best deal available. University coverage is sometimes just for a bit over emergency care. I'd be careful to understand that thoroughly before opting for it as primary or sole coverage. But in general, younger folks' insurance is much cheaper than older. So an individual policy might be pretty affordable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgo95 Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 We've been on graduate student health insurance several times and it worked great for us (I've had 3 kids while my husband was in graduate school, for instance). But there may be issues with having both insurance programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bootsie Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 You will need to look at the "coordination of benefits". One insurance policy will be designated as primary and the other as secondary. The rules of how it is determined which is primary may vary by state. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 (edited) A university insurance for students is inexpensive because the population of insured students consists of mostly young people in their 20s; it is cheap to offer insurance to this demographic because their health care costs are lower than average. So no, the university plan is not too good to be true. Edited August 17, 2018 by regentrude 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa R. Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 3 minutes ago, jdahlquist said: You will need to look at the "coordination of benefits". One insurance policy will be designated as primary and the other as secondary. The rules of how it is determined which is primary may vary by state. It appears that the primary would be the insurance she's had the longest which is, of course, the school district. So does the high deductible plan of the school district's policy have to be satisfied before the secondary university insurance starts covering charges? Also, would it make sense to drop school district's coverage and get the university's coverage for the year? Then, pick up the school district's coverage next fall. (School district has fall enrollment for health coverage.) It seems risky to drop an employer's coverage, but is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 1 minute ago, Lisa R. said: It seems risky to drop an employer's coverage, but is it? The employer's insurance should have an enrollment period, but also provisions for enrollment outside this period for special life events. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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