Hi-hoping some college parents will share their experiences with using the college health plan vs the parents' plan. If son is injured playing baseball for the school, how good of a job does your son's college plan do of covering claims? We have a local HMO and don't think that it will have good coverage where son is going next fall (hundreds of miles away) so we are assuming he will have to go under the school insurance. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!
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Son had surgery last year using the University's team surgeon. I have an HMO that only covers in state (son's school is out of state). Schools coverage is secondary. Both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist submitted bills to my insurance (which didn't cover) then those EOB's were submitted to the schools insurance. The schools insurance covered 100% of the costs.
I would talk to the individual school's training and medical staff to make sure this is the case with your son's college.
You have to be careful here. Most college programs are fine, but have upper limits on coverage in the $150K range, which given the unlikely event of a very serious injury won't cover it. I had the same situation so we put my son on his schools program, and got a low cost, high deductible high coverage ($3M range). The school will also have an "NCAA supplemental plan" and you should get your hands on it also, just to make sure.
Many of us here know about the Corey Hahn injury and the family has been fighting the University as there was not sufficient coverage for the impact this traumatic injury. It is not likely, but you should understand the risks and coverage levels for these programs if you are not under your family plan.
Wow, I will be honest that I never really thought of this. Thanks for bringing it up!
Blue10,
Our diagnostic experience (not surgery) was exactly as Birdman14 decribed it. Got trainers/pitching coach involved up front, and discussed medical situation & action plan with the trainer. Took son to our orthopedic doctor (while he was travelling in our area on Spring Break) for MRI and consultation. Nothing major is wrong. Sent EOB to trainer, and school pays the rest.
BOF brings up a great point. ESPN ran a segment on their E60 program about caps for high school injuries (mostly football). I suspect there are caps for college programs as well
Thanks for your replies. I guess we will have to purchase the school insurance and will look into the premiums for the supplemental plans. On the NCAA website, it looks like the catastrophic injury insurance covers up to $20 million lifetime with a $90,000 (!) deductible. If you end up needing it, God forbid, I'm sure the $90K would be a drop in the bucket, expense-wise. This feels like the internal debate I have every year re: earthquake insurance (in southern CA).
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/co...53ddb62eb67c2d0d15b8
It looks like this kicks in once primary and secondary limits have been exceeded...
My experience is the same as Birdmans in that my private insurance covers as primary, then whatever is doesn't cover(i.e. deductible, co-pay, etc.) is covered by the schools secondary insurance.
You will need to check with your particular college because in my sons case, they mandated student athletes have primary coverage.
So in our case it was not a problem, but it did make me wonder what poor/indigent kids did to meet the private insurance mandate.
PS - The above is assuming an injury occurred while playing for the team, not some other injury on campus, or playing in a PE type class. As a matter of fact, the coach met with the freshman parents and specified that the players could not play intramural sports, nor play anything like pick up basketball. If they did, they would jeopardize not only their scholarship and roster spot, but that it might not be covered by the schools insurance policy.
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