<p>My son will graduate from college in May, and will then go to Cambridge for two years (fully funded–hooray!) in late September. Unable to throw off 22 years of hovering (although I am working on it), I have been thinking about health insurance. His health coverage on the family policy ends on August 31. I plan to carry him on COBRA through September. While at Cambridge, he will be covered by the NHS (except dental). I have so many questions, and I don’t even know if I am asking all of them. I think I have to get some other coverage for him because I read on another thread that you need to be covered continually (especially if you have a preexisting condition, which he does). I guess these are my questions, in no particular order:</p>
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<li><p>Will the NHS coverage be adequate for day-to-day routine care? (The preexisting condition is a corrected congenital heart defect that was corrected surgically at age 4 months. Nary a problem since, but it’s still there on insurance questions.)</p></li>
<li><p>Should I get a high-deductible policy to ensure continued coverage and also to cover him when he comes home every now and then?</p></li>
<li><p>Friends have suggested that he needs a policy that covers evacuation home in the event a medical emergency. Does he?</p></li>
<li><p>Will any of this cover medical expenses in other countries of Europe? (I believe travel is more likely than coming home).</p></li>
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<p>Are there any other concerns that I should consider? Does anybody have any suggestions/ experience/advice/insight to offer?</p>
<p>If he receives full coverage as a result of his student status (except for dental as you said), then I don’t see why not. Unless of course he gets some type of lesser coverage for visiting non-citizens.</p>
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<p>Completely up to you.</p>
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<p>Again, a personal decision, but I don’t think so. Evacuation policies are usually considered needed when access to good care is impossible to find in a particular location (i.e. a third world country or the like) - the UK certainly doesn’t meet this criteria. It has modern facilities and well-trained providers.</p>
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<p>You need to check with the NHS on this one.</p>
Should be fine. New residents (yes even us foreigners so long as you’re ‘resident’ in the UK, ie not just a tourist) are asked to register with a local physician and get signed up for the NHS. They will typically give you a quick physical and at that would be a good time to address any pre-existing conditions and decide if any regular checkups are needed.</p>
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Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.</p>
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Also probably not a bad idea. </p>
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Once he’s resident in the UK he can apply for a free ‘European Health Insurance Card’ via the NHS. Whilst traveling in another EU country this would entitle him to receive the same care that citizens of that country would receive–subjected to the same payment arrangements those local residents receive. Every EU country is different and some require citizens to cover part of the cost while elsewhere it’s always free. It’s effectively like a medical passport arrangement in the EU that says ‘treat this person like you would treat you own.’</p>
<p>I do not know too much about this and what I know may be outdated.</p>
<p>As far as emergencies are concerned one used to be entirely dependent on NHS hospitals. The private hospitals didn’t offer this possibility. I do not know anything about the present situation. Those who could afford a private insurance used to pay for the extra costs because the quality of help that was offered in private hospitals (and probably the waiting period) was so much better than in most NHS hospitals.</p>
<p>I would contact the university to find out more. If I remember correctly there is a ‘state of the art’ NHS hospital in or nearby Cambridge.</p>