When it comes time for your child to move away from home and attend college or university there are a number of different things that need to be taken into consideration. In this particular article we will be taking a look at the options available in relation to student health insurance coverage. Although your child may be one that very rarely gets ill there may be a time when such insurance coverage is required and certainly none more so when they move away from home and go to college.
Below are a number of options that you may want to consider in order to ensure that your child has adequate health insurance cover when they start at college or university.
Option 1 – The Child Remains on Your Health Plan
With a large number of health insurance plans available today a child is able to stay on their parents plan even though they have moved away from home between the ages of 19 and 25. Therefore it is important that you check with your insurance provider to see whether this option is actually available to you. Using this option will certainly save on the money that you would normally have to pay out to get them a plan of their own.
Option 2 – Use COBRA
For those parents who have children over the age of 25 and happen to still be attending college, school or university then they may well discover that they are no longer covered by their health insurance plan. But this may not be a problem if they were to simply able to utilize the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) their child may be able to carry on being covered by their parents plan for a temporary period. So it is again important that you as a parent check to see if they can continue on your plan by using COBRA.
Option 3 – Short Term Insurance Coverage
If you are a student who is only going to be attending college, school or university for a short period of time before going to work then short term health insurance coverage may be the best option for you. This is a particular suitable option for those students who are not able to utilize COBRA and who once they start work will be provided with insurance coverage by their employer after only a few months of working there. When choosing a short term student health insurance coverage plan go with one that has high deductibles on it as this will help to make sure that the payments you make for it are much lower.
Above we have provided a number of different options when it comes to student health insurance coverage, all of which will hopefully help you to save money. But will also provide your child with the right amount of health insurance coverage that they need.
By Paul Abbey
