College Student Health Insurance- Getting The Facts
We cover our children with insurance while they are growing up because we want to make sure that they are protected. But what about after graduation? Changing over to college student health insurance may be the better way to go.
Insurance can be a very tricky and complicated issue. There are so many guidelines and policy exceptions that you have to be very careful to follow the rules or you could be stuck with an unexpected bill. When your child goes off to college you need to look at your policy and see if it is beneficial to keep them on it or switch. The problem is that to remain covered, you may not have a choice.
The problem is that some insurers will not cover your child if they go out of state to school. They may consider it out of network. Worse, if you happen to have an HMO they may not even consider them covered at all because they are using services out of the area. Either way, it means you may end up paying more. Add being at an international school and it gets more complicated.
Having their own insurance is usually a better way to go than staying on the traditional plan with the family. For instance, college kids are generally in better health and haven’t had time to develop medical histories of disease or injuries. Carriers like to ensure healthy people so chances are you will get a good rate. Also, almost all policies are only in effect while they are going to school. Once they graduate, they generally stop. This gives them less time to develop costly medical conditions.
Another reason to switch is that some policies will issue a discount if you use the on campus medical facilities. It is convenient for the student, it keeps the insurer’s costs down so it is a win-win. And not having to travel off campus to specific doctors or services will be greatly appreciated by students.
It is well worth checking into college student health insurance, especially since it doesn’t cost anything and it may save you money that you can use for other things, like tuition.
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