College is starting, whether your child is an incoming Freshman student or on their last year as a Senior, there is a lot to prepare. You are focused on purchasing all the necessities of a dorm, making sure your child has all the luxuries of home without being at home. You have to make sure they have all of their textbooks ready for the new school year and that you yourself are mentally prepared to let go of your little one to the world for a few months. But are you thinking about their health insurance plans?
About 10 percent of students get their health insurance through their school and it makes sense. But it would be a better option to keep your son/daughter under a family plan until they are 26. Lastly, the final option would be to explore a personal plan for your student through healthcare exchanges.
Sticking your child with a college health plan may be a tricky situation. You need to find out all of the factors that go into the plan (premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and total out-of-pocket costs) because on top of the tuition, could cost you thousands. The main drawback of this plan is that their coverage is only for the academic school year.
If you keep your child on your family’s health plan, there are numerous benefits. The cost would be lower than signing on for a college plan, especially if you have other children also on the plan. Keeping a student on the family health plan may also mean his spending will count toward the family deductible instead of toward an additional deductible. The con of this option would be that if your child attends college far away, they may be considered out-of-network and will be unable to see a doctor.
The last option, purchasing individual insurance, may be a good choice too. Moving to a new school counts as a qualifying event, which means your child can purchase a plan outside of the open enrollment period. If you qualify for a subsidy you can get a health plan at significantly lower costs, but if you do not it would make better sense to buy a group plan instead.
Whatever your decision is, Cosmo Insurance Agency will help you out. Our independent brokerage in Lakewood, NJ has a team of experts that will be able to provide you support and understanding throughout the insurance process. Be sure to contact us as soon possible so that we may get you started with the insurance coverage process as soon as possible.
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