Health Insurance Company

Heading off to college for the first time, students feel like their lives are really just starting, that they’re ready to get out there on their own, meet new people, find themselves and their direction in life, and want to take on the world. Then the real world hits them like a ton of bricks. They have to pay their rent, for food, their books, and everything else, not to mention their tuition.

And, nowadays, there’s another bill coming from their health health insurance companies that they have to pay off. These health insurance company bills are beginning to mount up too and have become a real concern for college students. They expected hardships, buckling down, but they never thought they’d have to worry about their health insurance company and medical bills until they had graduated and really were adults.

The reason why health insurance company bills and other medical costs are becoming quite the worry for college students is actually quite simple. Most college campus health centers have registered as in network with any of the bigger regional health insurance company’s networks. This means that students covered by their family’s health insurance company usually don’t get reimbursed for many of the tests and procedures performed by campus health clinics.

Also, a large number of colleges are starting to try to lure students away from their health insurance company and are promoting their own school-sponsored plans, which can range in price from a few hundred dollars at Brigham Young University to as much as $2,500 a year at schools such as Brown University. Some of these plans are quite generous, while others offer only anemic coverage, but either way it brings in great profits for the school or the health insurance company they’re going through.

Many schools tend to automatically charge their students for whichever campus plan they have unless the students can provide proof that they have coverage from another health insurance company each year. Some colleges are even requiring all of their students, even those who have coverage from a reliable health insurance company, to buy the school-sponsored policies. And the students can’t shop around for a better deal since the colleges will only approve one plan.

It all adds up. Young people even now spend $2,000 to $3,000 a year on health costs, which has created a market worth billions of dollars.

Colleges defend their practices, claiming they can’t afford the cost or hassle of registering with more than one health insurance company. Many college clinics consist of only a few nurses who provide free or very low cost basic services. But even centers with big staffs and huge fees for x-rays, shots, and blood tests say they prefer students going with the school-sponsored plans. It brings down the average premium for everyone and lowers the chance sick students will be put off from needed care for financial reasons.

Though it means a lot of hassle and paperwork, some colleges are starting to accept other health insurance company coverage than their own, but students still need to look out for this and all the other hidden costs of college.