<p>My nephew has applied for a graduate fellowship in Germany for next school year. He’ll be a student at a uni there. What options would he/his parents (my sister/BIL) have for health insurance coverage? Suppose he could continue on his dad’s policy, but if he’s in Europe, do such policies provide coverage overseas? Do programs offer separate policies that would cover him while he’s abroad?</p>
<p>He can check with his parent’s plan, they probably cover him at out of network rates meaning he would pay cash and request later reimbursement, which would be at usual and customary rates.</p>
<p>He could also find a travel insurance policy to cover him there</p>
<p>Does the university offer health insurance to graduate students similarly to what the American schools do? Graduate students in the US eiher have to provide proof of adequate coverage or buy insurance offered by their university.</p>
<p>We got DS his own standard HSA insurance the month of his graduation. Never used the benefits in Bangalore, Redmond, or Potsdam. I had him HSA bank $200/mn during his 18 months out-of-network to cover any deductibles. He got all his shots and medical exams under our policy and prior to loss of coverage/dependent…</p>
<p>He’ll be there for more than six months, so he’ll have to get a visa, right? The terms of D’s visa to study in another European country required that the endorsing entity (basically the exchange program under whose auspices she was a student) had to certify medical coverage. If something similar is true in Germany, they may tell him what policy he needs to purchase, or he may have to buy it through them. It may not be your choice. (We had health coverage that would have covered her abroad, but we were still required to cover her with the policy specifically approved for the program she was on.)</p>
<p>I am of the opinion that a newly college grad should get their own insurance the day they graduate, if not sooner. In our current insurance system, the question is “insurability” at time of application/issue. For the dependent, there are issues of whether the primary will keep the insurance coverage, at reasonable cost, and if the newly independent-dependent is eligible to obtain insurance. The primary insured is concerned about family insurance cost but future-sometime the dependents will become ineligible. The insurance company is concerned in enrolling healthy clients and not necessarily clients who can pay the premium. </p>
<p>Once insurance is obtained, insurance comes guaranteed renewable regardless of health and future tobacco addictions. </p>
<p>If the son is healthy, get the insurance, before he gets unhealthy and cannot afford the insurance and access to health care.</p>
<p>The first thing is to check with the university and find out what they recommend. </p>
<p>Based on our experience living in Switzerland, I think he will definitely want local insurance–it is much easier to work with the system the physicians he will see are used to dealing with–especially when one is in a foreign country, doesn’t understand the system, may have language issues, etc. </p>
<p>He may also want to keep some form of US insurance if it is not too costly. We were concerned that if one of us had a very serious illness, we might want to come back to the US to have more family support, etc, and paid a extra for Swiss insurance that offered worldwide coverage.</p>