The New York Times put out a great article today regarding student health care coverage. It’s a touchy and pretty emotional issue for families facing lay-offs and limiting budgets, while their college kids are attending schools that are continually raising fees and tuition.
My alma mater, Arizona State University, just raised their fees by over $500 a year. It’s outrageous. The problem for students and their families is that when mom or dad gets laid-off, it’s their little Sun Devil that is inevitably going to pay the price. While Cobra does cover dependents, in this lousy market your coverage may not last long enough to secure your student’s health care coverage.
Here’s the real deal. Many of the top health insurance execs will tell you that student coverage, if you are lucky enough to get it, comes with loopholes. If an injury or illness forces the student to take a leave from school or cut back on classes, some policies consider that student no longer full time and thus no longer eligible for coverage, according to the New York Times article.
Thankfully this ludacrisy will change in October. Unfortunately, it had to take the death of a student to make things right.
Sure, you can fight with your health insurance company over what constitutes a “full-time” student. And you can attempt to get Cobra’s extended medical plan if your job hunting is at tortoise speed. The reality is that 20% of all college kids don’t even have insurance for two reasons. They think they’re invincible, or they simply just can’t afford it. Both options are deplorable.
The No Insurance Club gives students full coverage under the family plan, even if mom or dad loses their job. It literally takes the hassle out of declaring your student’s enrollment status, or worrying about whether they’re covered while on vacation.
Since employers have been steadily scaling back dependent benefits to cut health care costs anyways, according to the COO of HumanaOne, why not leave all this uncertainty behind you?
The moral of the New York Times’ story was to have all of your facts in place. Know what constitutes as “full time.” Know the loopholes and know exactly how your student is covered. In this economy, student health care coverage is the last thing you should be worried about.
