Student health insurance can be affordable, and even cheap, if you choose a plan that offers the exact coverage your student needs, and if you understand the coverage your student has. By choosing the coverage your student needs, you won’t have to worry about paying for any medical costs that you know your student will acquire. And, by making sure you thoroughly understand your student’s coverage, you won’t be hit with any surprise costs along the way.
The first step to finding affordable student health insurance is to ask about any health coverage offered to your student by his or her school. Many colleges and universities provide medical services via on-campus clinics to students. These medical services may be available free or at a very low cost – and what’s more affordable than that?
Next, ask about pre-existing conditions. For example, your student may be diabetic; medical care for pre-existing conditions such as diabetes may not be offered through the school. If this is the case, consider purchasing a smaller, additional health insurance policy to cover treatment for diabetes while using the school-provided services for situations such as common colds. This will help keep student health insurance affordable.
Finally, find out everything you possibly can about the student health insurance plan and/or the medical services offered by the school. How much is covered if your student visits the emergency room? Is your student allowed to visit any health care professional, or is there a network of doctors from which he or she must choose? You may think you’ve purchased an affordable student health insurance plan, but if emergency room visits aren’t covered – or very little of the cost is covered – you’ll be faced with a bill that won’t make the student health insurance plan seem so affordable after all.
Know which services are available, which services aren’t, as well as how to obtain each and you’ll find affordable student health insurance.