College Student Health Insurance in California
Students in College Have Many Choices for Health Coverage
© John Wu
Aug 19, 2009
The rising cost of education and hard times in the economy has made getting health insurance a challenge for college students, especially in high-cost California. Fortunately, many schools have options available that may allow students to decrease their healthcare expenses and improve their healthcare coverage.
Community College Health Plan Options
All California community colleges have a health center on campus. They provide low cost or free basic health services such as immunizations and treatment of minor ailments to any registered community college student, including those who are uninsured.
California community college students who are uninsured may want to look into purchasing student health insurance through the Community College League of California. The CCLC health plan provides major medical health coverage for students who are enrolled at least half time (6 semester units). No medical questions or medical exam is required to get coverage because it is guaranteed issue for students. The premiums tend to be very affordable, especially for students under the age of 30.
Disadvantages of getting a policy through the community college are that it covers a maximum of $50,000 per illness or injury and there is no prescription drug coverage. Those that have expensive medical conditions may want to consider other options.
CSU Health Plan Options
As with community colleges, all California State University (CSU) campuses have student health centers that are paid for by CSU registration fees. The CSU student health centers also provide basic healthcare such as immunizations and treatment of minor illnesses for low cost.
CSU students who need health insurance can purchase student health insurance through the CSU Healthlink program. The maximum benefit under the CSU program is $100,000 with a $500 maximum on prescription drug coverage. Again, those with expensive medical conditions may want to consider other options.
Other California Colleges and Universities
Students at other colleges and universities other than CSU and community colleges often have options for health insurance through their school. For example, all University of California campuses offer their own students health plans as well as a health center for all registered students, including the uninsured. It is important to ask the college or university about the availability of affordable health insurance because many schools offer student policies or have a student health center than can be used for low cost care.
Parental Health Insurance
Most family health insurance policies allow full time students to stay on their parent's health insurance plan while enrolled full time at college. In some cases, the cost of premiums to cover the family is paid entirely by an employer. More commonly, the parent pays the cost of some or all of the premiums, which can cost several hundreds of dollars per month per student.
The advantage in using the parent's health insurance is that covered benefits under an employer or non-student policy are sometimes much better than those with student health plans, especially with respect to prescription drug benefits. The reason is because student polices tend to have low premiums, which means they have to cut back on expensive benefits such as drugs. However, verify with the parent's specific health insurance plan documents to determine which health plan is better for the student.
If none of the above options work, there may be other state and federal programs uninsured students should look into such as Medicare, Medi-Cal, and MRMIP, California's high-risk insurance program. If no health insurance is available to the student, the student's college health center can still be used at a low cost for minor ailments.
References:
CSU Healthink
Community College League of California
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