Things To Look For In Student Health Insurance

by Jen Thorpe | More from this Blogger

25 Sep 2010 02:03 PM

If you are a parent of a college student, (who is under the age of 26), you have a choice. You can have your child covered under your health insurance plan. This, of course, assumes that your current health insurance policy allows you to include your child under your coverage. It also assumes that you actually have a health insurance policy. Or, you can have your child covered under the Student Health Insurance that comes from their university. Take a close look at these policies before you make a decision about which one to go with.

Another option, of course, is employer based health insurance. Some insurance companies are choosing not to allow coverage of young adults on their parent's health insurance policy if that young adult can get health insurance from his or her job. Again, this assumes that your child not only has a job, but also qualifies to get health insurance through that job.

There are some things you should understand about Student Health Insurance before you decide to have your college aged child sign up for it. Most colleges will provide Student Health plans that attempt to provide the best care for the lowest possible cost. This is because, as a group, students are young, and generally healthy. The problems start if your child happens to have a serious health issue. Some of these plans have a low cap placed on them. If your medical care costs more than that cap, you end up paying out of pocket for those expenses.

So, if the student catches the cold that is being passed around the dorms, the insurance will very likely pay for a doctor visit, (especially if the student visits a doctor at the on campus clinic). However, if the student needs care for a pre-existing condition, develops cancer, or breaks a bone, the student health plan might not cover everything.

Find out the following information before you sign up for a Student Health Insurance plan:

Where is the "cap" at? How much money will the insurance pay out before refusing to cover expenses related to health care?

Will the coverage continue if the student stops going to school? What if the student goes abroad for a semester? Will the coverage continue after the student graduates? Will the student health insurance continue to cover the student in between semesters, if the student receives care from a doctor that is not on campus?

Are there any on-campus services that overlap with the care offered by the insurance policy? Some campuses will offer free checkups, or free flu shots to students, even if they don't have the university health insurance plan.

Will this form of health insurance cover the costs for mental health care? Not all of them will. If not, then a parent might need to find out if their health insurance plan will cover their child, and also will provide coverage for the cost of mental health care.

Image by Johannes Gilger on Flickr

Learn more about Jen Thorpe

I am currently writing for the Insurance, Deals, Genealogy, and Special Needs blogs.I have also written for the Parenting,Money, Homeschooling, Preschool, Health, Food and Weightloss blogs.

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