Health Insurance

[melisssasue]

What is everyone doing in regards to health insurance?  Do most schools offer health insurance?  Is so is it just for students or are spouses and dependants eligible?  Sorry if this has been asked before but the only search feature is a pain in the a** to use.
TIA
 

[Sam P. Huntington]

Check with your school. Most schools offer health insurance, however, the plans are not always mainstream (Oxford, Cigna, Blue Cross, etc.) and are often limited in scope. If you are under 25, your parents might be able to put you on their insurance... but if you have a spouse/dependents, you may need to opt for the school's plan or something through your spouse's job (if applicable).

[skeeball]

I bought my own plan because my school's only covers doctors affiliated with the university. I'm considering it just part of the cost of going to school.

Find out the details of the plan through your school, if it's not good enough for you, then find out what the biggest individual carrier is in your area--they'll probably have the best rates. Probably your state's BCBS.

[«ě»]

How much does 'private' health insurance usually cost? Do pre-existing conditions change the price much for moderately young people?

[darlinalexi]

My undergrad has a student health center that took care of me when I was going there quite well...

In law school, do we just have private physicians not affiliated wit the university?

The great thing about having the health center was that I only paid lab fees, not to be seen... Grr... I have a chronic disease which requires me to go to the doctor often so this is something that unfortunately matters...

[jer]

i need to figure out the deal with SMU's health insurance options

[skeeball]

How much does 'private' health insurance usually cost? Do pre-existing conditions change the price much for moderately young people?

It's age/sex rated. Women have to decide if they want maternity coverage (and pay an extra $100 a month for it...and it doesn't kick in until a year after it goes into effect). For a 25 year old male coverage can be $80-$120 a month, depending on what kind of coverage you want. My policy was about $140 with dental.

If you're really sick you probably can't get private health insurance. The applications have this really long health history questionnaire and then they either rate up, exclude conditions, or decline the app.

[«ě»]

Ok, I see. I'm not really sick, actually I'm mostly healthy, but I do have a back injury in my medical history, with titanium bolts in my spine. I guess that might be an issue for insurance companies.

[beeker]

In Massachusetts, plans have to cover you now even with a pre-existing condition...and I am 99% sure they don't charge extra for maternity coverage.  Of course...the premiums are about 2-4 times what someone above listed, so who knows.

I believe almost all schools have aplan, and that all schools require you to be covered, whether by their plan or another.  I would guess it costs about 1000 bucks a semester.

[cesco]

I think it depends on the school.  If you go to a big state school with a huge facility, you will likely have access to that for x amount per semester.  My undergrad was a large state school, and you went there for everything.  It was the same deal for undergrads and grads.  They had all sorts of specialists, and only send you off site if there was a unique problem.

My current school has about 10,000 students (undergrad+grad) and they have a clinic for the routine stuff ($150 per year), and offer health insurance for the bigger stuff ($1,000) per year.  Anytime you need to see a specialist you go to a private doctor.   

So - I think it depends on the size of the school, as well as whether they are connected with a medical school.

You can usually find private plans for $100 a month or so, but the price goes up tremendously with pre-existing conditions.  I have a pre-existing condition and it was WAY better for me to take advantage of the school insurance. 

I do remember a few posters on here last year complaining that their school didnt offer anything - so I would definitely check with your school for details.