Student Health Insurance Plans and Their Benefits

For those who are below 26 years of age, thanks to Obamacare, you are under the coverage of your parents still. However, not every individual is able to finish his studies before the age of 26 years. Most students doing higher studies, or studying multiple faculties have crossed the threshold of 26 years and are no longer covered under their parent’s health insurance plans. If purchasing health insurance plan can be a nightmare for those who are earning, for those who are students, it must be really scary.

So, should these students discontinue their studies and get into some jobs, just to be able to pay for expensive medical care? Thanks to Students Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), this category of the U.S. citizen are not dying being unable to pay for their health care. There are two coverage cycles under SHIP- fall (August 15^th to December 31^st) and Spring (January 1^st to July 31^st). Those who wish to register for Fall 2017, your coverage will be effective from August 1^st 2017.

The initial health care, except for urgent care and emergency care, has to begin at University Health Services. These services have to be authorized by the office of Student health insurance to enable payment of the cares provided. Every state and its University provides certain benefits to the students under SHIP. These benefits are somewhat same across all Universities, leaving certain small differences (for HMO plan):

1. All preventative care are fully covered (100% coverage) and you need not pay a single cent for it.
2. In case of primary care, you as student will require to pay $15 in copayment.
3. In case you need seeing a specialist, if this specialist is from in-network and referred by your primary care provider (PCP), you need to pay only $15.
4. For urgent care required under UHS, you will pay $30 and for outside UHS, it is $50.
5. Students requiring counseling for certain mental or behavioral disparities will receive first five counseling at UHS for free. However, for the same service outside UHS, the student requires to copay $15.
6. In case you require an emergency room, you pay $100 upfront as copay. Moreover, 90% of rest of the services will be paid by your SHIP, other than lab tests and x-rays.
7. For hospitalization, you need to pay only 10% of the coinsurance after calculating the deductibles, rest 90% your SHIP will take care.
8. For your lab tests and x-rays, you pay 10% coinsurance again, while your insurer will cover the rest 90% after checking your deductibles.
9. For all your prescription drugs, you need to pay $5 for generic, $40 for official list of describable medicines, and $25 for brand name prescription medicines.

In case you are not covered under your parent’s health insurance coverage and you are still a student, you may not worry going untreated due to lack of funds. The Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) takes care of majority of your health care costs, leaving you tension free to concentrate on your work. Of course, you will need to make some research on which plans under your university will provide the best facilities for your medical care services.