Columbia University Health Insurance Requirements
Reader question:
I’m just been accepted as a student at Columbia University in New York, and I heard that you have to have health insurance to go there. Is that true?
Albert
Yep.
You could say that Columbia is looking out for its students by requiring every student who attends classes there full time to be covered by a decent health insurance plan. It’s both trying to make sure that it is not responsible for any student accidents and to make sure that its students are provided with proper health care. It can seem like a huge burden for many students to buy expensive health insurance after many are already putting forty thousand dollars a year into Colombia just for tuition and their dorm. It’s important as a student at CU, then, to compare health insurance quotes and determine which plan is best and cheapest for you.
Like most universities, Columbia University has clinicians on the campus who can help treat you if you fall ill or get injured and can prescribe you medication. However, there are many emergency situations that these clinicians are not qualified to deal with, and Columbia wants its students to be able to go get good health care from a hospital at these times.
Columbia doesn’t just leave its students hanging out to dry and having to find health insurance coverage on their own or else. Rather, it offers a program called the Student Medical Insurance Plan with which students can register for basic or comprehensive coverage. Whenever you register for classes full time at this school, your name is immediatly enrolled in this plan. If you already have health insurance and those don’t want to use the Columbia health insurance plan, then you can submit a waiver.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Using Columbia University Health Insurance Plan
Columbia University’s health insurance program operates on a referral basis. You can go at any point to the on campus clinicians without a referral, but if you intend to go to a doctor or hospital outside of the Columbia campus, then you have to get a referral, either from the Primary Care Medical Services department or from Counseling and Psychological Services. If you are a full time registered student of Columbia and you have an emergency requiring you to go to the hospital, then it isn’t necessary for you to get a referral. You can get treated and then file a claim later.
In order to get a referral from PCMS or CPS, you have to go to the on campus clinicians first. Once they have attempted to treat you, or partially treated you, they can give you a referral to go outside the campus. Here are the steps that you have to follow.
- If you don’t get a referral before receiving medical treatment off the Columbia campus, then you aren’t covered. The only exception is for emergency situations.
- Getting a referral has been made easier so that you don’t need a new referral every time you see the same off campus doctor. Instead, the referrals are based on your condition. So, if you have to go see a certain off campus physician for one condition, a single referral covers all of your visits to said doctor for the same condition, with no limits unless you visit the doctor for a different reason.
- You’re still covered by the Columbia health insurance plan even when you aren’t in the city. If you are on break somewhere else and you get sick or hurt, you still have to get a referral, but you can do it over the phone.
- Copays are required most of the time for visits to off campus physicians.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Columbia Student Health Insurance Plans
Filed under: Private Health Insurance, Student Health Insurance
Reader question:
What types of health care plans are offered at Columbia University?
Randall
Great question.
There are two types of health insurance plans that you can get if you are a registered full time student at Columbia University, either as a grad student or an undergrad. One of them is the basic level, and the other the comprehensive, and you have the option to get both. Every student who registers full time at Columbia is automatically enrolled into the Columbia health insurance program, so it is likely that if you attend Columbia you will be choosing between one of these health insurance coverage plans.
The basic level plan is the one at which everybody starts. You are automatically put into this plan, although you may get a waiver or even get the comprehensive plan instead. This is the average plan that works for most students and is made for the people with less risk. If you don’t plan on using a more than average amount of health service, and you want a cheap plan, then the basic level may be for you. The basic level comes with $300,000 of coverage and might be a good option for students who can’t afford to pay high monthly premiums, as it puts more of the burden on co pays than on premiums.
The comprehensive plan is the next level up, and it comes with a million dollars worth of maximum coverage over the course of the insured person’s life. It comes with everything that the basic level does, with a little extra. It helps for people who need more extensive mental care by providing them with off campus mental evaluation and treatment, and it also comes with greater provisions for things like prescriptions and recovery treatments. This is the best option for students with a pre existing condition, although it can be expensive because the monthly premium costs more, but copayments and deductibles are smaller.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama
Don’t want to enroll in the Columbia health insurance plan?
Filed under: Health Insurance Quotes, Medical Health Insurance
Reader question:
I already have health insurance coverage, but my university, Columbia, automatically enrolls you in their insurance program when you register full time. How do I get out of that?
Alexis
Great question.
It can be a little annoying that your university doesn’t give you the option of enrolling or not enrolling in its Columbia health insurance program, but you have to understand that it is mostly in order to protect the interests of its own finances and those of its students. It also offers you health insurance at cheaper rates than you might receive it elsewhere. However, while it is compulsory to be insured while you are attending Columbia full time, it is not compulsory to be insured by Columbia.
If you have your own health insurance coverage, then you can get a waiver to get out of being automatically enrolled in that of your school. It’s not very hard to do. The main thing that you need is documents proving that you have other health insurance coverage. This shouldn’t be easy to get, since all you wil need is your insurance card, which you should already have on your person at all times.
The catch is that while you have to provide proof of insurance, it has to meet six criteria. To find out what these are, go to the Columbia University website. Luckily, once you have waived your coverage, you don’t have to hassle too much with it. Once you waive it for the first semester of the school year, it is automatically waived for the next one. You will, however, need to get it waived all over again for the new school year if you continue attending Columbia.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama
Dental care through Columbia health insurance
Filed under: Group Health Insurance, Teen Health Insurance
Reader question:
Does Columbia University’s health insurance plan cover dental as well?
Amber
Sure it does!
Luckily for full time students at Columbia University, they are able to get a lot of health insurance coverage at a decent price, with flexible rates and a nice referral system. They are also covered by the Columbia health insurance plan for dental, which is something that many health coverage plans lack. It’s a good thing, too, because many Americans avoid getting regular dental check ups because they have no insurance or it is not covered by their insurance, and the results much later are terrible on their teeth.
The dental care coverage extends beyond students themselves and to their families as well, and it is very comprehensive. There are several kinds of programs, and when you pick one for you and your family you should think about what kind of dentist and business you want your family to go to, how easy it is to get an appointment there, what the wait times are with and without an appointment, where it is located, and how much it costs.
The range of dental plans varies. Some come with certain networks from which you have to choose a dentist, and others are more flexible, operating on a referral based system. If you are going for just a regular tooth care and check up visit, the co pay is cheap for many of them, at only five dollars. For actual tooth care that isn’t a well check up, the cost is even less.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama