Is it mandated by colleges or the government?
My older daughter stayed instate and we had to show proof of coverage. They only asked for it her first year. She is now in grad school and we were asked for proof of coverage.
My younger daughter is OOS. We have to submit our insurance information to BCBS ( the schools insurance) every year and get it approved. If it is not approved you need to buy the schools insurance.
I don’t know the answer to your question- is it mandated by the school or government.
It is not the government mandate. The schools require you to demonstrate that you have insurance coverage. If you provide evidence of coverage that you don’t have to pay for at the school. You probably also have to prove that you had a meningitis vaccine.
You are talking about 2 separate issues: the current ACA, which mandates that everyone has insurance by the government. However, if you do not have adequate insurance you must purchase a health care plan from the school. It is definitely a school mandate.
Correct. It is not the government mandate. It is a school requirement. And it is possible, if, for example, your insurance coverage is with a local HMO that does not cover you in the state you will be attending school (no providers in the network in the state you attend school) you may still be required to purchase the school insurance.
My s’s attended college before ACA was implemented and this was a school mandate at each of their schools.
In Massachusetts it is mandated by the state that you have health insurance.
Even if not required choosing not to have health insurance is a foolish choice.
Yes, Massachusetts has had mandated healthcare for all residents In 2006. The college mandate precedes that too.
My university required students who did not have coverage to purchase their plan (30+ years ago). Many schools now require plan design specifics and if the out-of-network benefit is inadequate, will require students to purchase the university-sponsored health insurance. I believe it is $2500/year at my son’s school. Excellent levels of coverage both at school and nationwide.
Every college I can think of requires you to prove you have health insurance of some kind that will cover you in that state…and meets a minimum standard.
Some schools require you purchase their plan.
MOST will allow you to use your parent plan IF it provides the coverage the college wants you to have…in the state in which the college is located.
ETA…many colleges do NOT include the cost of health insurance in the cost of attendance…so it’s,an additional number to add to attending.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why colleges mandate this? What is the risk to them that they are trying to mediate? Why would it matter if a child got sick and had to leave. If they think having health insurance will stop kids from getting the cold or flu, that is just dumb. I also doubt it would limit STD’s either. I know it is a good idea for catastrophic problems but I do not understand why the colleges mandate it. Why not mandate life insurance?
@MassDaD68 It is colleges trying to protect students (and parents sometimes) from their own foolishness. The “I’m healthy, why do I need health insurance?” mentality.
The insurance at my son’s school is a couple thousand per semester. If that’s the tipping point in affordability, the school is probably too expensive.
@austinmshauri As in $4K per year? Wow. that is something to consider given the large yearly increases one can expect with health insurance.
The risk isn’t a kid getting sick and having to leave. The risk is the kid who commits suicide in the dorm, and the parents sue the college. (and there is plenty of precedent here.) Parents send a kid with a known psychiatric disorder or history of depression off to college. Kid doesn’t make an appointment with one of the campus shrinks because they don’t have health insurance (or more likely have health insurance on a plan which does not cover an out of state visit). Four months later kid is off his meds- and suicidal.
Colleges have settled dozens of these lawsuits. Or CF, severe allergies, lots of other life threatening chronic conditions. Kid has insurance- back home. Not in the new place. Kid is at severe risk for all kinds of adverse outcomes-- college becomes liable.
That’s why college’s mandate either take our plan, or prove that your home plan will cover you when you’re living in our dorms and eating in our dining halls.
The college has zero exposure if a kid has no life insurance.
What would be the alternative? do you really want to send your child off to college uninsured or someplace where your insurance caNt be used? What if your child gets sick or injured at college and you are uninsured, are you going to pay the big hospital bill?
If you are insured through your employer and your plan provides adequate insurance, especially if your child goes to school outside of your network, then you will have no problems.
Massachusetts insurance fund gets a lot of money from the students, especially out of state ones. These are the young, healthy group that are more likely to pay more in premiums than they use in services. That’s how the system was designed, and why it works.
Many other schools just ask if you have insurance and if you say yes, you don’t have to buy the policy they offer. I have two kids in OOS schools, and one we buy the school’s policy because she is 2000 miles away and plays a sport, so is more likely to use it. So far, she’s only had to use the school health center and athletic trainers. The other child goes to school about 150 miles away. She gets medical care when she’s home or uses the school clinic. If there is a fee for something, it is cheaper to pay than buy the insurance at about $2500 per year. If it is something major, she’d just come home.
My youngest’s college no longer offers it’s own plan. Students without insurance are referred to the exchanges. How that changes now…who knows.
Most students don’t make enough to qualify for subsidized plans on the exchanges. In states with medicaid expansion, most would qualify for medicaid. In the 24 states without medicaid expansion, they’d have to pay for a full exchange policy, which few could afford without the subsidy.
In no particular order, a few reasons:
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Communicable diseases. College, especially college dorms and group living homes, are a hotbed for viruses and infections spreading through the population like wildfire. Every year you can be assured that you’ll hear of an outbreak of something nasty at a couple of schools, even leading to shutting down classes. The kid without health insurance is going to be the one who doesn’t go in to get treated, but ends up infecting others, starting the chain reaction. And then the kids without health insurance who are infected are going to spread it further.
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Intoxication. Yes, the students shouldn’t be drinking, and certainly not at levels that make them sick. But they do. Then they get taken in to the ER. If the school has its own ER then insurance helps pay for this; if the students are sent off-campus, having insurance means that student needs don’t bankrupt the ER.
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Distance. One of my kids went to school on the other side of the country. One goes to school about an hour’s drive away. Both had health emergencies where they needed to use an ER. A college student getting sick and having to leave is far more involved than, say, a high schooler having to come home early. And how does a sick kid on their own even get home? Not everyone has the time or money to buy a last-minute ticket to come pick up a kid, pack up their stuff, and fly back home. Then the sick kid stays on campus. Who takes care of them? What happens to their roommate(s)?
To me, it’s a moot point, because I would never let my children, or any member of my family, not have insurance.