Health Insurance options for a Chemistry/Materials graduate student?

[Arbogast1993]

Okay, time for an odd question with some odd circumstances! 

I am a part-time student and a full-time worker. I work in metallurgy. The pay isn’t bad, but I want more to my work—as well as more of an option to move around—later on. I have an AS in chemistry. 

For a BS in chemistry around work, we are talking maybe three years part-time. I can perhaps fit about a year after the fact for research. A BS in materials engineering will easily double that to about six years or more part time, since I have none of the engineering core completed as of yet. 

I would love to get a PhD in chemistry (probably inorganic) or in materials. I love the subject matter. 

That said, I am not normal lol. I had open heart surgery to fix a deformity at eighteen, and I’ve been diabetic since the surgery. On top of this, I will need another heart operation in the next ten years or so, although I don’t have any updates if that will be sooner or later yet. 

I can deal with the pay for graduate school if I pursue a PhD, but my main concern: am I also covered and covered well enough of the healthcare side of things? 

Would it be better for me to go this route, or would it be better for me to keep my current job and work maybe twice as long for an engineering degree? 

I know healthcare coverage can vary widely depending upon the institution, but is there more of a “norm” that I might see within chemistry?

Thank you,