Buying Individual Health Insurance

Many states have age limits that prohibit college students from being health insurance dependents on their family’s plan.  Therein lies the need for college student health insurance.

While the idea of finding college student health insurance may seem like a drag, don’t despair.  College students likely have it as good as anyone else out there on a whole.  Their young age and generally low health risk is attractive to insurers, meaning that premiums will be lower than they are for older holders of PPO health insurance plans.  You’ll generally get some pretty good benefits for low monthly premiums, and you can work that down by raising health insurance deductibles to tailor plans that essentially base themselves around catastrophic coverage.

There are a number of carriers who offer college student health insurance plans, and who to specifically look for will really depend on the state that you live in.  That’s the one thing about health insurance that we’re unable to advise you about, since private individual insurance is handled at the state level and different carriers are abound in different states.

However, there are certain carriers with college student health insurance policies in a number of different states throughout the country.  For example, Assurant student health insurance is a very popular choice, and generally allows for some flexible options when determining deductibles, your office visit copay, maximum coverage limits, prescription drug benefits, and other things.  You may want to look into this possibility if their plans are offered in your state.

On another note, others may be looking for health insurance studying abroad coverage.  Finding an international plan is a little different, as most standard health insurance policies won’t cover you out of country.  However, some carriers offer add-on coverage if you’re looking for something international, in addition to the fact that there are standalone college student health insurance plans that cover you internationally.

Graduate student health insurance may be another possible need, and the rates will generally be similar to those for college students.  This assumes that the graduate student is within a similar age bracket, as premiums for paying members up to the age of 35 or so generally remain pretty low.

You’ll most likely want to go with PPO health insurance if you’re at a school that’s some distance away from your home.  Should you get an HMO plan, it may be cheaper.  However, keep in mind that if you’re back home, you may be required to see a primary care physician near your school before getting a recommendation for a specialist.  This is obviously an inconvenience and something that most would rather not have to do.

Lastly, the best thing that you can do is to shop around before you decide on a college student health insurance plan.  Don’t jump on the very first thing that you see, unless you’re sure that it’s giving you everything you want at the price that you had in mind.  Still, you’d be best suited to run a few comparison searches to see if any alternative carrier may be able to beat the quotes you’ve gotten.