Health Insurance for Student with Family

[DrScott]

Here is my situation:

I will be quitting a full-time job this year to start medical school. My wife will only be working part-time so that she can take care of our two kids. I need affordable healthcare. We will definitely have a low-income but we will also have alot of assets tied up in home equity and retirement accounts(IRA's). I'm not sure if our assets will exclude us from "low-income" health insurance. Does anyone out there know about the different options a student has to cover his/her spouse and kids for medical insurance? I know I can get relatively inexpensive health coverage for myself through the medical school but rates for the family are high(around $500/mos). Thank you,

Scott

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[LaurieB]

If you go through a private insurance company and opt for a large deductible you can significantly reduce your rate. Also, if you go with a PPO or HMO, that will reduce your family rate too. It just depends on what kind of coverage you want. If you only need catastrophic coverage and can hedge your bets, go for the high deductible.

My 2 cents.

 

[k's mom]

a few things:
1. don't automatically assume that your family is not eligible for state-sponsored medical benefits. Give it a try. The hardest part for qualifying may be if you own property. If this is the case, you may consider transfering your property to a trusted relative for the duration of school. (A friend of mine did that, and now her family is covered, saving $540.00/mo, not to mention all of the deductibles, prescriptons, etc.. that would have come out of pocket.)
2. some insurance companies (in our state, a blue cross affiliate) offer income-contingent plans at a reduced rate. (we ended up qualifying for a state-sponsored plan, but we priced this option, and it would have saved us approx. $280.00/mo in premiums)
3. although I would never recommend avoiding coverage for your children, your spouse(and children) may be eligible for free services at whatever clinic in your hospital serves the medical students. Here, children and spouses of students can go to the family health clinic and recieve all physician/nurse services free of charge, although you must pay for x-rays, labs, etc... If your wife were to become pregnant again, or have a life-threatening illness, state benefits MAY kick in.
4. If your school offers MEGA, be careful! It is designed for young, healthy, single students, not for people with routine health needs (i.e. well-child check-ups, etc....), or catastrophic illness/injury.

Good luck!

 

[Runtita]

I know some schools require a minimum coverage for the student. Also, beware of your children not being able to qualify for state insurance if your kids have been covered under another plan within the last 6 months...that's how it is in Missouri. A load of crap!

 

[thenderson]

not true.....i am an first year optometry student at The University of Missouri-St. Louis and my wife stays home with our 2 children......my wife was previously a teacher and our entire family was covered through her school's insurance plan....we are all now covered by the state.....saves us at least $300/ month

 

[k's mom]

I think what Runtita may have been referring to are some stricter requirements if you have been covered under a DIFFERENT STATE's health plan during the previous 6+ months, especially if you are an adult and applying for a state plan (NOT medicaid). Each state has different requirements,(and each county office may use a COMPLETELY different set of assumptions about graduate/medical students) We had a HORRIBLE time, because our county office insisted that since my Husband cannot change his state of residency (we moved from Arizona to Pennsylvania) during school, then I am not allowed to changed my residency. Ahem, EXCUSE ME?????? There are no laws that say spouses have to share residency, and I kept insisting that they show me exactly where this so-called rule/law is written. Of course, they couldn't. Then, they said I had to provide them with proof that we were not recieving state aid from Arizona. Um, okay. Arizona was very cooperative, but there was nothing they could do, because I've never recieved public assistance before, so my name was not in their system....they had no proof I ever even lived there. This was not good enough for our county office, so they told me to apply for social services in Arizona and be turned down, which would satisfy them. Well, that prooved impossible, because apparently to apply for social services in Arizona, you are assigned a case worker by your zip code. Oops. Eventually, my perpetual nagging got to them and they relented. I only found out after the fact that the office (in a differnt county) that services main campus almost automatically registers all graduate students with families, including many foreign students. So, the lesson is....keep nagging.

 

[Runtita]

When we moved to Missouri in 2000, I asked the state if we could qualify for medical insurance and was told that because we had been covered within the previous 6 months, we could not qualify.

It is my understanding that this is still in effect.

 

[k's mom]

So sorry. Private insurance is not a cheap thing. Were you applying for a state program, or medicaid? were you applying for any children? Of course, every state is very, very different, although I've noticed that most will bend over backwards to cover children (and often, pregnant women), but to be covered as an adult is much, much more difficult. Here in Pennyslvania they also have a requirement of not having previous insurance to apply for their "Adult Basic" low-income insurance program. However, it is a moot point, because the waiting list to get on the program is incredibly long. Remind your spouse of all of these troubles years from now when he/she is treating people...insurance (or lack of it) is an all too common stress.

Another thing I've noticed (and this is true for every state, local and federal agency I've ever needed anything from...and I used to work for a state legislature!), is that you can get different answers from different people. My rule is that I need to hear the same thing from three different people, or see the written rule, before I will take it as fact. One of the spouses here was told her family would not qualify for Medicaid when they started school and she was pregnant with her second child. two and a half years later, when she was seven months pregnant with their third child, she called the office for some other matter, and the case worker was shocked that she was not covered, and covered her immediately.

 

[Runtita]

The program for which we were applying was the MC+ for Kids. At that time, we only had one child, we had just moved to MO from NM, and I wasn't employed but my husband was. We met the income guidelines but since my son had been covered by (private) insurance through my former job within the previous 6 months, we were told by the MC+ for Kids state office that he could not be covered.

I just called my local Family Services office who gave me an 888 phone # to call; I called it, and it is a fax #!

I wonder if exceptions are made for students.

edited: I finally got to a person at the phone # who told me that if you are in the upper 3 income levels, your child has to have been uninsured for 6 months to qualify. The income levels are different according to age, the cutoff for my 7 year old is $2040/mo, for my 2 year old is $1535/mo.

But it's all moot at this point because I'm still working until July!

 

[thenderson]

Well, we previously lived in Kansas where my wife was a teacher (i was still an undergrad) and we were covered on her school's insurance plan. We moved to Missouri in July and our insurance plan expired on the last day of August, 2003...........we were w/out insurance for several months when my daughter (7 months) had to be put in the hospital for the flu.....since we had no insurance, the hospital told us to apply for medicaid since I am a student and had no income (besides student loans). Several weeks later we received notice in the mail that we were approved for state insurance (MC +) for the entire family. I am a first year opt. student and my wife stays at home with our 2 young children....now, if state/federal programs can't benefit people as ourselves, then who should they benefit? My wife is a college grad. and I will be an optometrist in 3.5 yrs. at which pt. we will no longer qualify for state aid, but will surely be paying for someone else to receive the benefits...my take is, take advantage of these programs now for that later they won't be available......most people pay year after year in taxes for programs they will never use....

 

[k's mom]

"now, if state/federal programs can't benefit people as ourselves, then who should they benefit? My wife is a college grad. and I will be an optometrist in 3.5 yrs. at which pt. we will no longer qualify for state aid, but will surely be paying for someone else to receive the benefits...my take is, take advantage of these programs now for that later they won't be available......most people pay year after year in taxes for programs they will never use...."

Yeah, thanks for reminding everyone of this. At first it was tough going through with the medicaid application. I had to go into the county office, and I felt very out of place, especially since I have three college degrees and used to work in a social service agency! But then I reminded myself that at that point I had been paying taxes for 12 years, I was denied unemployment benefits when my full-time employer closed during undergrad because I was still enrolled as a student ("Quit school, and we'll pay you, " is what I was told), and five years from now my husband and I will be paying over $45,000 a year in taxes alone. Kind of puts it all in perspective.