Along those same lines…anyone here have Kaiser? How would that work when sending student in the fall? I understand what folks have shared about opting for the Yale supplemental health insurance but I guess I don’t understand how that segues with existing HMO coverage?..
@tonymom, no experience with an HMO, but we’ve had BCBS and Cigna, both of which have many participating physicians in the NH area.
Try Northeast Medical Group which is part of Yale/New Haven Health. They have all kind of specialists and they took my son BCBS. Hope this helps
@tonymom I don’t believe Kaiser operates in Connecticut or elsewhere in the northeast, but assume there is some provision for coverage outside your HMO’s area. Your student will automatically get Yale insurance coverage unless you opt out - IIRC it’s around $2,000 on the bill.
All Yale students are covered for basic care at the health center, so it’s for specialty care (e.g. dermatology) that insurance (either your existing insurance or the Yale plan) comes into play.
Kaiser had offices here because I had a friend that worked there for a long time- I can’t imagine them not having participating doctor offices here in CT as well.
I thought that Kaiser had shut down its health plans and offices in the northeast and only remains in the DC area and Georgia as far as east coast locations, and as far as I can tell from a quick look at the KP site that seems correct. I would assume there are some provisions for out of area coverage regardless though.
http://share.kaiserpermanente.org/article/fast-facts-about-kaiser-permanente/
My son had Kaiser coverage through his undergrad years - not at Yale, but in the Northeast. Kaiser only covered him for urgent and emergency care out of area - although he did have a couple of phone appointments with doctors in California. He still had access to the Advice Nurse. It wasn’t ideal, and his college’s health center was not as extensive as Yale’s - especially because it was closed nights and weekends, when he usually needed it! As a grad student, he terminated his Kaiser coverage and has been using Yale’s - since it was cheaper than Kaiser. But he’s only tried to use Yale Health twice - and failed. He needed a flu shot quickly, because of family members with a compromised immune system - but Yale only offered shots a couple times a month. As opposed to Kaiser which offers it daily. (He ended up going to a CVS, I believe, and paying.) And he couldn’t get an eye exam for many months
Because he’s not on a family health plan - it gets complicated with the ACA figuring out the best health plan and from which state. To make things simple - he went with Yale. He has been covered during the breaks for urgent and emergency care out of area - the same way he’d been with Kaiser.
Thanks @SpiritManager @Memmsmom @canoe2015 @IxnayBob
It seems Kaiser will cover for urgent care and ER but regular visits no. Rep suggested he get “the works” done during breaks from school. So the question is whether to opt for the Yale care which seems to be a supplemental to the regular student health center that comes with regular registration…if I understand everything so far…:-/
Sounds like, from what has been stated in previous posts, most people do not find the supplemental that helpful.
@Memmsmom, regarding post #4945, I have never been to New Haven. Are you saying that if you are using the train, say flying in to one of the NYC airports and taking the train up, Milford would be a good alternative to New Haven if the place has a shuttle to the train station? Otherwise you would go to North Haven?
I assume people fly into NYC, rent a car, and drive up to Yale. Is that the usual? Or is there some trick, like that Southwest flies in to Connecticut and is price-competitive to Newark?
How does one usually get to Yale? Thanks!
The Yale supplemental would supplant his Kaiser coverage (it’s basically the same - an HMO, but a more limited one in that there’s only one facility) - it’s for urgent care, specialists and emergency visits - everything that the basic health plan that comes with your tuition doesn’t cover.
@SpiritManager
So basically aside from the benefit of access to specialists, the Yale supp isn’t necessary as Kaiser will continue to cover urgent care and ER…GOT IT!
Thanks…I’m sure I’m making this more complicated than it really is 
@ItsJustSchool - My son has had terrible luck flying between O’Hare and Laguardia. Delays and problems all the time. He had always arranged for CT Liimo (a car service) to transport him between Yale and Laguardia, not the train. For this upcoming spring break, he decided to try flying into and out of the smaller, more local airports. The ticket is more but there are no hidden costs like car and bus services at the beginning and end of the trip. He will save time, too, by not having to wait for the next bus, train or car. When we were trying to figure out the best way to travel to and from the school, we checked with folks on here and there were as many different answers as there were people who responded.
@ItsJustSchool YES! That is exactly what I am saying. We hosted a class in Milford for work because they offered a shuttle to and from the train. It is worth looking into because its only one stop away from New Haven, its less cost than parking in New Haven and you don’t have to drive into the city. North Haven is a great alternative but you still need to drive in. Milford is a smaller town and has several hotels that hold conferences and work with business travelers. We used Hyatt Place for the class we offered. You will still need to get from the train station to the college unless you want to walk (which I know people have done before) There are always cabs outside the train station and the kids use Uber a lot. There is also a Yale shuttle that goes there but I don’t know if they offer that to parents during parents weekends. I had not asked.
@ItsJustSchool Another option is to fly in and out of Hartford rather than NYC. In our experience the flights are priced about the same and it is MUCH easier to rent a car and drive out of Hartford than NYC. As I think I said in an earlier post, we actually usually choose to stay in Hartford rather than closer to Yale because our flights tend to depart early in the morning. OTOH, we haven’t yet needed to be on campus for more than one day–the commute back and forth would be a pain if we were there for a full week-end.
The train to Milford option is an intriguing one–just keep in mind that you have to get from the airport to the train as well. The individual costs start to add up–for more than one person, a rental car out of Hartford might be a better deal.
Oh dear - all this discussion about health insurance now has me worried. We’re from the UK and are therefore incredibly privileged with our National Health Service and never have to think about these things!
DD is on a very good financial aid package and Yale Health is included. I had rashly assumed we didn’t need to think about health insurance any further. Some comments on here, however, make me think I should ask some more questions.
My main immediate concern is that she seems to be travelling away from New Haven fairly frequently, whether it’s to stay with a college friend for Thanksgiving or for competition weekends with one of her extra curricular groups.
Should we be thinking about extra insurance to cover her while she’s away? And if so - does anyone have any tips?
Hi @fro we are from Canada and with Yale Health you’ll be covered. I was so worried I talked with Yale about it too to ENSURE he’d be covered on everything from being struck by a bus to colds. My boy had to go there last year twice for bouts with bronchitis. I have been texting him to go get the strain of meningitis shot that turned up at Silliman residence this year but have encountered radio silence - studying maybe?? really really hard??? hmmm…maybe give them a call to be safe from worry. it relieved me
Thank you so much @oldladyandmom! That’s really put my mind at rest! I may give them a call anyway.
Fortunately she had the meningitis shot just before she left (I think it was a condition of being allowed into Connecticut). Slightly annoyingly, a week later the UK Government announced it was rolling out a vaccination programme for all prospective undergraduate students. If we’d waited a few days she could have had that on the NHS too!
It certainly makes me appreciate our health service to hear all the challenges you have over there.
Hope your boy responds soon!
Sorry @ fro I should have added to get some travel insurance if she’s going to be straying a lot during the year to other States etc. we have annual travel insurance for this rather than buy the occasional thing because he’s an athlete and travels and goes to see chums at Harvard etc.
Oh dear - that was what I was worried about… She does ‘stray’ regularly… I’ll investigate this immediately though most insurances I’ve seen in the past insist you start your travel from the UK…
You might want to investigate the meningitis vaccine too. The strain on campus was not the one covered by the usual vaccine. This case was the rare serogroup B variety of bacterial meningitis.
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/02/26/55-receive-meningitis-vaccine/