<p>It is that time of year again, I need to purchase health insurance for my son who resides in California but goes to school in Philadelphia. We have HMO coverage here in CA for him but the school does not accept it, and it does not cover him for anything really except for emergency situation. Thus, he can go to the emergency room but if anything else happens and needs to see a doctor for regular follow up care…it is not covered.</p>
<p>His school offers a policy through Aetna, it is $2100 yearly for a fairly comprehensive plan, with a $500,000 yearly max. He is an athlete and he did utilize the plan last year due to a broken bone and another ligament issue…although not sports related. </p>
<p>It makes my crazy knowing that I am paying for two insurance plans but I know I need to do it. I was wondering is the $2100 is comparable to other student plans, and if anyone has found other reasonable plans outside those that a school has offered.</p>
<p>I just checked out of curiosity, at my son’s former school Northeastern U, the undergrad healthcare plan is $2159. Last year it was $2,249. That’s right, lower cost this year than last year. It covers the student for a full 12 months. That’s another thing to check. Some schools you pay by the semester and it only covers the student during the semester, so paying for 2 semesters provides far less than 12 months coverage.</p>
<p>Is it an option to switch to a non-HMO plan, so your son would be covered? I’m assuming not, or you would have done it last year, but I thought most employers offered both options.</p>
<p>I guess the cost of my sons plan is about in the middle. And no, 1214mom, we cannot switch him to a non-hmo plan unless we all switch…and I really do not want to do that because we have been very happy with the doctors and plan coverage. Unfortunately, he must have a new plan by mid-September…and Obamacare don’t start until 10/1…so I guess we will just go with what is being offered…Thanks all</p>
<p>RPI’s plan, which is $828 per year, has a yearly cap of $100,000. I’m confused about that, because starting in 2014, such caps are illegal.</p>
<p>[on edit] Now I understand. Student plans that start before Sept. 23, 2013 are allowed to have $100,000 yearly caps for 2014. Student plans that start after Sept 23 are allowed to have $500,000 yearly caps for 2014. Next year, all caps are illegal.</p>
<p>Regarding RPI, my son will still be covered by our family insurance as well, so in case of a true emergency or serious illness for which he would have to return home, the cap does not worry us.
We will see what happens next year, maybe the cost will rise. But it is also possible that we may have a better option for family coverage this coming year which would negate the need for the school’s coverage.
In the end we decided we didn’t need our freshman worrying about whether he should or should not seek medical treatment even if we were able to wrangle a waiver. Or worry about prescription coverage. And since he was diagnosed with mono 3 days before classes started, I’m glad we went that way! Thank goodness it appears to be a mild case and he is doing well, he just dropped orchestra so he would have extra time to sleep :)</p>
<p>The RPI plan is bound to go up in cost next year when the caps go away. I hope your family coverage works out so you don’t have to buy the more expensive insurance. And I hope your son gets better quickly.</p>
<p>The cost at Penn in Philadelphia this year is $2774 plus $484 clinical fee on top of that. Previous years the clinical fee was waived if you enroll in the school plan instead of having other qualified external insurance plan. BTW, this is also provided by Aetna.</p>
<p>Thanks! The silver lining is that we now know he will get himself to the clinic when he doesn’t feel well. We joked about it before he left, how much were paying for two insurance policies and the health center fee, he’d better go if he got even a sniffle. And there won’t be any drinking for the next 3 months, since he knows how dangerous it can be with mono.</p>