Health Insurance?

[lteddygrahamsl]

Hey everyone,
I was wondering if anyone knew of a good health insurance plan? I've heard the plan at Western is horrible and would like to find my own insurance. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :-D

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[wildfocus]

wow, are you sure? individual health insurance is unbelievably expensive!! my husband pays ~8K a year for his private plan. if you do want to go that route, check with the california gov.com page. here in washington we have a state plan for uninsured that is income-based. i know some students who pay *only* ~400/mo for their state supplemented insurance.

 

[pressmom]

I agree with wildfocus. When I looked into private insurance a while back it was $749 a month!! That's more than rent for most vet students!! Also it varies by your pre-existing condition, so if you've had allergies or depression, for example, they can charge you more. Also on a lot of plans these conditions aren't covered for a period of time--something like 3 or 6 months.

 

[alonepear]

Wow, I can't believe some individual insurance is so expensive! I currently pay about $160 a month for my own individual plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield NC, it has a co-pay for all in-network visits, and a deductible of $1000 (once I pay that much, they pretty much cover the rest), but I rarely spend much. Maybe mine is lower because of my location and age (24).

Since I'm moving to Mississippi, I figure I will have to change my provider, and Mississippi State has yet to provide us with any information as to what, if any, health insurance options they offer.

I was at a vet conference this weekend, and spoke with the representative from the AVMA insurance (that a lot of vets have). They apparently offer a plan for students, so I put my name down to receive some info on it in the mail... as of yet, I have no idea how much that plan will cost, but here's the website if you want to look into it:

http://www.avmaghlit.org

 

[chris03333]

Wow, I can't believe some individual insurance is so expensive! I currently pay about $160 a month for my own individual plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield NC, it has a co-pay for all in-network visits, and a deductible of $1000 (once I pay that much, they pretty much cover the rest), but I rarely spend much. Maybe mine is lower because of my location and age (24).

Since I'm moving to Mississippi, I figure I will have to change my provider, and Mississippi State has yet to provide us with any information as to what, if any, health insurance options they offer.

I was at a vet conference this weekend, and spoke with the representative from the AVMA insurance (that a lot of vets have). They apparently offer a plan for students, so I put my name down to receive some info on it in the mail... as of yet, I have no idea how much that plan will cost, but here's the website if you want to look into it:

http://www.avmaghlit.org

I had the AVMA insurance. It was terrible. It really did not cover anything and I would just end up with a large portion of the bill anyway.

 

[Rebeki]

You may also want to check out ehealthinsurance.com. When I lived in Wisconsin I got very inexpensive insurance through their website - around $100/month for a basic plan. However, when I moved to New York, they only had one plan available in my location, at over $1,000/month!!! So, depending on your location, this site may be helpful.

 

[philomycus]

The lack of insurance terrifies me. I had my gallbladder removed this past Sept. for around $30K. Glad it's done with now, but hoping I don't have reoccuring problems. My intestines hate me.

Leaving a job with full benefits is definitely scary.

 

[CookieBear]

Good thread.

It definitely IS scary leaving a job with benefits. The last time I had health insurance through school, during undergrad years, the plan sucked pretty bad.

Here's hoping that KSU's plan is good.

That's disappointing to hear about the AVMA coverage.

 

[kate_g]

I've heard the plan at Western is horrible and would like to find my own insurance.

You may want to dig a little deeper and find out exactly what "horrible" is to them. If they've never been uninsured, for instance, and never had anything but mommy & daddy's insurance covering them through college, then they might not have a lot of experience to compare.

All health insurance companies are bureaucratic nightmares, that's just the way they are. So if their main complaint is that they're hard to deal with, or make you wait on hold a long time, or nobody will give you a straight answer about anything and they mess up your paperwork all the time... your private insurance company probably won't be any less "horrible."

The school plan probably makes you go to the school clinic for your primary care, which could be good or bad - Berkeley's clinic has actually been great, so I'm hoping as another UC that Davis might have a good one too. Anyway, aside from the quality of care at the campus clinic the important thing would be what's covered and how hard it is to get care when you're *not* on campus - like you're on vacation out of state and break your ankle and need to go to the ER... um, not that I'm *such* a bad skier as to ever have been in that situation myself. Covering dental would be a plus too.