Health Insurance Blog

Four years ago the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) started to require universities to make their athletes have health insurance coverage before competing in sporting events.  A mistake was made as the Association did not set forth clear standards for the coverage leaving the students to decide for themselves what they needed.  This is all according to the article “College Athletes Stuck With the Bill After Injuries” by Kristina Peterson on nytimes.com. 

Some colleges accept a lot of responsibility for medical claims but others assume none according to a review of public documents.  Many university officials say they definitely inform their students about the limits of certain health insurance options, but the situation has left students and families frustrated and very confused as many have had to take on large and unexpected medical bills. 

Many athletes have health insurance through their parents but often times the coverage does not include injuries due to varsity sports.  This is where it gets tricky.  They need additional coverage but are unsure where to begin and often do not get enough coverage and are left with mountains of debt.  One solution is to require universities to offer quality coverage to all of their varsity athletes, but this is suspected to put too much of a burden on schools financially.  Because of this the NCAA is unlikely to require that sort of mandate anytime soon.

Most colleges and universities offer their own health insurance plans for students, and some even make it mandatory that you purchase health coverage through them.  Students and more specifically the parents of students should make sure they understand the provision related to such policies since they vary so widely from school to school.

Some university health plans limit the health care benefits that students can reap from the policies, thus making serious injuries or illness still costly expenses for students and their parents even if they are covered.  It is not uncommon for doctor visits, prescription drugs or even hospital stays be limited.  In addition, maximum benefits per incident can be limited to $2,500, which can evaporate very quickly.

While limited health coverage is better than no coverage at all, there may be better student health insurance plans out there from private health insurance companies, and students and the parents of students should familiarize themselves with their schools health plan before they enroll, and shop for other alternatives if the benefits will be insufficient.

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Governor John Lynch is planning to allow adults from ages 19 to 25 to buy New Hampshire health insurance through the state-subsidized Healthy Kids insurance program. Healthy Kids was previously open to children under 18 only.

After a three-month waiting period, young adults earning individual incomes below 400% of the poverty level ($3,610 per month) and without access to parent- or employer-sponsored health insurance will be allowed to participate in the buy-in program. The economy’s current troubles make it less likely that this age group will quickly find jobs with medical benefits, making this measure even more urgent. Currently, around 22,000 young adults in New Hampshire are uninsured.

The exact cost of the health insurance premiums is being finalized, but the president of Healthy Kids expects it to be less than $200 per month, significantly more affordable than most individual health plans.

Several individual health plans from AvMed have been introduced in Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, states a press release. They suggest these plans would be most appropriate for these groups:

• self-employed individuals
• students
• early retirees
• people laid off/between jobs

The AvMed Individual Health policies’ benefits include some preventative care without a deductible, a maximum lifetime benefit of $5 million and full integration with Health Savings Accounts. An innovative three-month deductible carry-over lessens the burden of Florida health insurance costs by applying payments made in the last three months of one year to the following year’s deductible.

A variety of AvMed health insurance options with different levels of coverage are available to individuals and families; there are also plans specifically reserved for children (ages 2 through 17). If these new offerings are successful, the release claims that they will be expanded statewide.

Find more information about Miami health insurance.

Keith L. Martin of the Insurance and Financial Advisor just reported on a new proposal by Governor David Paterson regarding New York health insurance. He wants to expand health care coverage by mandating that health insurance companies cover policy dependents up to age 29, at the policyholder’s own expense. Currently, parents’ health insurance plans in New York state cover their children until they are either 18 if they aren’t enrolled in college, or 22 years old if they are.

This age group is at increased risk for being without health insurance: many 19-to-29 year olds are either unemployed and struggling to find jobs, laid off, or working in positions that don’t offer health insurance. Individual health plans are usually far more expensive than group coverage.

Paterson’s legislation will address those issues, in addition to possible provisions for any grandchildren of the policyholder. Keith says that this proposal is a step towards universal health care reform by controlling medical costs and including a large group of generally healthy people in the pool to spread risk. This demographic is a low-risk pool for insurers, but could have a negative effect on smaller employers.

(Photo credit: jimbowen0306 under CC 2.0)

As noted by Steve Rosen of the Kansas City Star, enrolling in student health insurance offered directly by schools aren’t always a good idea.   Many school-sponsored health plans are clearly inferior to comparably priced alternatives from private health insurance carriers, and can leave families exposed to crippling medical bills.

More than 50% of colleges across the country offered student health plans in 2007 and many colleges require students to carry health insurance coverage as a condition of enrollment.

If you are a parent evaluating student health insurance coverage for your son or daughter you should dig deeper than simply evaluating the cost components of the coverage.  Understanding the benefits, exclusions, restrictions and other elements is important to appreciate the risk that you will be taking on in the case of accident or illness in specific circumstances such as studying abroad and spring break for example.