health insurance in vet school

[thedogisgreen]

Thinking about health insurance for vet school as a distraction from the actual admissions bit... though I do need to get in before I actually find insurance! So, I have a preexisting condition and finding individual insurance is pretty close to impossible, so one of the requirements for my current job was that it provide health insurance. I know in undergrad they gave us (well, we paid for) insurance through the school. Does that apply to vet school as well, does it vary between schools, or do you need to find your own separate insurance? Do they care about pre-existing conds in giving you grad school insurance? Thanks! 🙂

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[EllieGirl89]

http://vet.osu.edu/education/incoming-class#insurance

^^^There's a link to Ohio State's insurance info. I'm not sure about other schools though.

 

[turnbackhelly]

At Cornell health insurance is automatically billed to your bursar account along with tuition each year, however if you have private insurance that you'd like to keep you can submit a request to waive university-provided health insurance (it has to meet xyz requirements, like of course covering you in Ithaca and also covering up to a certain dollar amount, so on and so forth). If your request is approved, you get the money that would have paid for university insurance back as a/along with your refund check. I had been paying for health insurance out of pocket for 2 years prior to starting vet school (too old for my parents' plan, only working part time, etc), and my yearly premium is actually about $500 less than what Cornell insurance would have cost me. I can't really speak to the issue of preexisting conditions, as I don't have any experience in the way of that.

Trying to think back to when I was a Penn grad student... I'm pretty sure I was still young enough then to be on my parents' insurance, because I really can't remember ever having to think about health insurance when I was a student there. I would imagine most schools "provide" (at a cost of course) health insurance, although I'm not sure if other schools also provide the opportunity to waive their insurance if you have your own.

 

[bunnity]

Penn has student health insurance. I think it's about $2800 a year. They did not ask for any medical history and I don't think they care if you have pre existing conditions. If you already have other insurance that meets certain standards you can opt out, but if not they automatically charge you for student insurance. It is actually pretty good health insurance. It also covers your rabies vaccinations so if anyone is planning to go to Penn and use their insurance, wait to get your vaccines so they are free! You also can go to the student health center as much as you need to and the doctors and nurses there are great.

 

[thedogisgreen]

Awesome, sounds like most/all schools offer the insurance without shooing you away for preexisting. Yay, one less thing to worry about.

 

[thedogisgreen]

Niceee, I had no idea this even existed. https://secure.avmaghlit.org/ez/index.php/Student
Looks like it's around 2500 a year, which doesn't sound too bad, but I'll definitely compare it to the insurance rate and benefits of whatever school I end up going to (that is, whenever that happens, whether this round or ten rounds later ). That's so cool they have this, I was so worried about having to find just regular individual insurance and not being able to. Yay vet industry for taking care of us. 🙂

 

[NittanyKitty]

A lot of my classmates and I here at NCSU opted for the school insurance, which runs about $370 for the year. Not too shabby! Although...I know I might be jumping ship next year to go back on my parent's health plan. Thanks ObamaCare!

 

[pennyonthefloor]

FYI to all students under 26 and that have good relationships with their parents: Look into being added back on to your parents' policy and paying them to do so. Obama-care has extended the cut off and has allowed to be added back on (I don't know the specifics.... I'd have to do some digging for that).... I just know I called my dad the other day and I will at least be able to be added on to his plan again for two quarters before I turn 26-- which is significantly cheaper... even if it's for a few quarters....

 

[Shadow23]

MSU also has student health insurance. Same deal as Penn and Cornell in that it is billed to your account and you can waive it if you have other coverage. Here is the link:

http://cvm.msu.edu/student-informat...health-insurance/?searchterm=health insurance

If it is anything like my undergrad student health insurance (at NU in Boston), they sign you up without asking for any medical history or pre-existing conditions. It is the same cost for all students regardless of what problems you have.

Hope this helps!

 

[lunajett]

KSU doesn't offer any insurance for students, but we all had the opportunity to sign up for the AVMA GHLIT as well. We received information on it with our official acceptance paperwork probably around March, and then they bring it up a couple more times during orientation and first few weeks, so we had lots of opportunity to sign up. It's a flat $160/month, no physical or pre-existing restrictions, and we had until like sometime in Oct to sign up at that rate. We could still wait and sign up later, but it would have likely been at a higher rate and maybe require a physical. As I'm older (but fortunately no pre-existing), it was probably the best deal I could have gotten - even continuing my good previous coverage from my last job would have cost me close to $300 IIRC.

I think some of my classmates were even able to use the GHLIT for their required rabies vaccines, but they had to get the insurance right away in order to get the vax series during orientation. Without the insurance, the vax series is usually like close to $700 out of pocket.

So yeah, 👍 for AVMA GHLIT.

 

[turnbackhelly]

As others have mentioned, it might be worth thinking about the rabies vax while deciding on insurance if you haven't gotten the series yet. Even though I'm paying for my own insurance (about $100/month) and therefore got a $1700 refund from Cornell because I'm not using their insurance, I had to turn around and give $850 of it back to them for my rabies vax. It wouldn't have been covered under the Cornell insurance either, but had I known more about AVMA GHLIT i might have considered it more closely.

 

[squibby]

OK, the AVMA GHLIT website sucks. I couldn't find anything about whether it provides the option to cover same-sex/domestic partners under its plans. Does anyone here know?

 

[EllieGirl89]

OK, the AVMA GHLIT website sucks. I couldn't find anything about whether it provides the option to cover same-sex/domestic partners under its plans. Does anyone here know?

Ah, just another joy of gaydom 🙄. Luckily my gf is only 20 so I dont have to worry about it. I'd really hope they would cover that, and if not I hope you can figure something else out!

 

[EllieGirl89]

Huh. It's really interesting squibby. I was reading about the plan and around page 11 it talks about benefits for your spouse/dependents if you get married...which you are, but I don't know how that would work in your situaton. I'd give em a call f I were you.

 

[Nechochwen]

If I remember right, the AVMA GHILT insurance rep who was at LSU during orientation said that same-sex/domestic partners could be covered. I wasn't paying too much attention though; I'm mooching off my family. 😀 😳

 

[nyanko]

UC Davis has the same setup as the schools that automatically bill student health insurance along with tuition and fees, but it can be waived with evidence of comparable insurance.

Here's a link to the page on UCD's health services website made for vet students: http://healthcenter.ucdavis.edu/newstudent/vet.html

 

[squibby]

If I remember right, the AVMA GHILT insurance rep who was at LSU during orientation said that same-sex/domestic partners could be covered. I wasn't paying too much attention though; I'm mooching off my family. 😀 😳

Thanks guys, I'll call them. If they don't, well I def. won't be flying out to my interview at Kansas!

Edit: Just called, and AVMA GHILT definitely covers same-sex domestic partners. Yay. It's so stupid we even have to worry about this kind of stuff still.

 

[EllieGirl89]

Edit: Just called, and AVMA GHILT definitely covers same-sex domestic partners. Yay. It's so stupid we even have to worry about this kind of stuff still.

Right?

Glad you got it straightened out!

 

[BlackNGold]

Yeah a lot of schools offer health insurance included in the tuition prices. Maybe not so much now that Obama has made it that parents can have their insurance still cover their kids until they are 26. There's a good article in the News section of http://www.healthinsurancequotes.org that talks about college students coverage options. Hope that helps if anyone's still looking for info 😛

 

[JumpHigherLivie]

I HIGHLY recommend the AVMA policy. I can't speak for other schools, but for ours at MSU (Michigan) when you read the fine print of the school policy it stinks. One girl in my class, out of the blue was diagnosed with cancer, and in less than a semester maxed out her yearly coverage and almost had her lifetime coverage maxed out. She was having to pay OUT OF POCKET for her chemo drugs and other drugs.

Another girl in a class a few years above me maxed out her policy when she broke her ankle...

THe school policy maxes sound like a lot until you think about what it really costs for medical treatment....

 

[cuitlamiztli]

Iowa State also has student health insurance, but we aren't automatically enrolled in it or billed for it -- we have to sign up for it specifically. The information is here if anyone is interested.

AVMA GHLIT is (obviously) also an option.

 

[Veracosa]

I'm at VMRCVM and have the Virginia Tech insurance. I had to pay an annual premium up front of 2,900 for health, dental and vision.
My coverage isn't great; everything goes through the on-campus health center which has crap hours and is always way busy.

Next year I will be getting AVMA GHLIT. The cost is similar but I can pay it in monthly premiums instead of a summertime whammo.

I am REALLY happy to know they cover same sex partners. It doesn't pertain to me, but it's the right thing to do! (Yes, it *is* sad these things are still having to be worried about in this day and age)