<p>Among the many hats I wear at work is coordinating our student insurance plan (grad school). Our insurer can start a student early to avoid a gap in coverage. Call the school or the insurance company rep to find out if you can do that.</p>
<p>kelsmom, you are a fount of so much good info! I actually tried to call the school today on this very subject, but got sent directly to voicemail, and at this time of year I don’t have high hopes for getting a call returned (it’s a big school), so I’m going to try again in the morning.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the insurance broker we use for our small business’ property and casualty coverage came up with a very basic and very cheap policy from Golden Rule that can be cancelled, and the premium prorated, after the grad school plan kicks in–so it’ll be a really trivial cost. (The broker will probably make $1 on the whole transaction, so is doing this strictly as a goodwill gesture–though I had to squeeze the goodwill out of them by reminding them of the amount of our annual business premiums.) The plan excludes pre-existing conditions (and the prescriptions that treat them) for a period well beyond our use of the policy, so acceleration of the grad school plan would still be a better choice, but this is a good alternative. I still think the whole system is screwy.</p>
<p>MommaJ, for your daughter’s Rx’s, you can ask the pharmacy for a “vacation refill”, meaning that they can fill it early <em>once in a while</em> if you tell them she’ll be out of town during the normal refill period. That might help her get through the gap period without needing refills.</p>
<p>axw, that’s sounds fine from the pharmacy’s point of view, but I don’t think her current insurance would cover a vacation period that clearly goes beyond the coverage’s termination date. </p>
<p>I did reach the grad school health office, and as kelsmom said, they do in fact offer an “early arrival” option for the full month of August for $350–but assuming we can work around the prescription issue, I think the catastrophic coverage for 11 days at under $50 (after the prorated refund) is the more sensible option.</p>
<p>I have spent waaaay too much time on this!</p>