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
Getting health insurance in Houston if you’re high risk
Reader question:
I’m from Texas and I’m having a hard time finding health insurance in Houston because I’m considered ‘high risk’. What do I do?
Marvin
There’s always something that you can do.
The health insurance business, indeed, the entire insurance business, be it life, health, or auto, functions around formulas that determine the risk of a potential customer. Medical health insurance companies provide health coverage, but they only want to provide to the people who need it least, and want to make it as difficult as possible to use. This is natural to a business, as they would much prefer to have money coming in than out. This makes it difficult for people who are more like to use medical health insurance coverage to get insured, but there are certain fall back plans set in place to help them out.
If you are looking for medical health insurance in Houston, Texas, then you should consider getting involved with the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool. This, which makes it easier to get high risk health insurance in Houston and the rest of the state, was created as Texas’s response to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It helps out poeple who find that medical health insurance companies turn them down more often than not because they have a condition or history that makes it to where they require more health care.
It works pretty much the same way as much health insurance in Houston, even down, strangely, to the fact that in the first year of your policy you aren’t covered for any pre-existing conditions. It does, however, allow for hospital stays and trips to the emergency room with small deductibles.
It may be the only option for someone who needs health insurance in Houston and can’t get it anywhere else, but that doesn’t mean that it will be cheap. As a matter of fact, with a one thousand dollar deductible, it could end up with a monthly cost of up to five hundred for a 36 year old man, and up to six hundred for a woman of the same age.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
What is traditional medical health insurance?
If you want to get traditional indemnity medical health insurance, also called FFS or fee for service medical health insurance, then you’re going to have to like paperwork. That’s why I’m including this video of a cute baby kitty in this post. Because, naturally, thinking of adorable kittens makes any distasteful action funner. Well, that might be overselling it a little bit.
Regardless of the extra amount of paperwork required, fee for service medical health insurance isn’t all that bad. It does cost more, with both more pricey monthly premiums as well as deductibles that tend to be on the high end, but at the same time it is a lot more flexible than many kinds of medical health insurance plans. If you’re willing to pay a little extra money and spend a little extra time for a lot more freedom and choice, then traditional indemnity medical health insurance might be the best option for you.
The Good:
- Lots of flexibility, in that you can pick what doctor, specialist, or hospital you patronize instead of having to choose out of a network and having to get a referral to go outside that network. It helps you take control of your medical experience and handle the way your health is going more than other, more controlling plans.
- No referrals, again. If you have to go to a specialist, you don’t have to worry about getting denied by the primary care giver that your insurance company picked for you. You can choose on your own.
The Bad:
- If you want the medical health insurance company to pay for the health insurance claim, you have to pay the deductible first, and this often is high. Also, after you have paid the deductible, you usually have to co-pay. Although the insurance company tends to pay around eighty percent, you still have to pay the other twenty.
- Your medical health insurance doesn’t cover your needs right away. Rather, you have to pay first and then file a health insurance claim to get your money (most of it) back to you.
- Traditional indemnity medical health insurance decides what is the normal price for a medical service, so if you go to a physician that is more expensive than others around the same area, then you’ll have to pay that extra money because the insurance won’t cover it.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
How to shop for catastrophic health insurance
So maybe you have decided that you fit into the right kind of group that catastrophic health insurance will benefit best. You’ve considered your options and also considered the high amount of financial responsibility that catastrophic health insurance requires, and you have also considered the limits of its coverage. After understanding all of that, and making sure that you could have enough money to cover higher deductibles in the incidence of a medical emergency, you’re ready to start shopping for catastrophic health insurance. Here’s what to do.
- Ask how much your medical health insurance premium will cost you, both on a monthly and yearly basis. This is very important to know, because obviously the low monthly premium payment is the main draw that catastrophic health insurance holds.
- Ask how much the deductible will be.This is one of the most important things to ask about, because you need to know if you can afford the deductible if you get catastrophic health insurance,. because otherwise there isn’t a point.
- Do you want a lot of coverage or a little coverage? If you need more extensive medical health insurance coverage, then catastrophic health insurance coverage might not be the best for you, and you should definitely consider what your wants and needs are.
- Do you take any prescriptions? If you do need to pay for a lot of prescription drugs, you might do better with a different health insurance plan, because catastrophic health insurance does not cover drugs, and prescriptions cost quite a bit and the amount can add up if you are paying it all by yourself.
- Do you have enough money to pay for things like check ups on your own? If you don’t, then you need a different type of coverage. Doctor’s visits often cost a lot, and I know that when I was pregnant my doctor charged almost two hundred dollars per fifteen minute check up–which came every one to two weeks. That can add up if you’re paying out of pocket.
- Any pre-existing conditions? If you have one of these, you’re out. Catastrophic health insurance plans don’t take on the risk of people who already have a condition.
- Is it easy to get sick for you? Not every sickness can be covered by an emergency room visit, so you’ll probably need coverage that covers a regular doctor.
- How high up does the lifetime maximum go?
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Catastrophic health insurance and high health insurance deductible
Reader questions:
Could you explain the high deductible plans of catastrophic health insurance?
Amy
Absolutely.
There are two major things that you must consider before you decide to get a catastrophic health insurance plan. The first is that you will only be covered for major hospital visits, and will have to pay for everything else out of pocket. The other major thing is that any catastrophic health insurance plan will come with a higher deductible than the usual medical health insurance plan, so you will at any time have to be ready to take onto your own wallet much higher costs than usual, even if you are paying cheaper monthly premiums.
How high is it? Should you choose to get a catastrophic health insurance plan, you’re going to be looking at deductibles of around $500, possibly even more than that. Besides that, if you get a catastrophic health insurance plan, there will usually be a lifetime maximum coverage of between two and three million, and if you should reach this maximum coverage point, then you will no longer be covered and your policy will be canceled.
If you do have a $500 deductible, you’re going to have to pay for everything up to and including five hundred dollars. Once your medical expenses go past that, your coverage starts. Even if you have a deductible as high as $15,000, and you have to get some kind of treatment that costs ten thousand, you will have to pay for it. Now you can see why even with its cheaper monthly cost, catastrophic health insurance can be more expensive than most other types of plans.
When major medical costs are spoken of as regarding catastrophic health insurance, pregnancy is not included. So if you’re thinking of getting catastrophic health insurance just because pregnancy is indeed major medical care and involves a hospital, don’t fool yourself.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.