Chronic disease, health insurance, and Phd - How do others manage it?

[dwb331]

I was recently accepted as to a doctoral program with full funding and a nice one-year department fellowship. I am also waiting to hear back from two other programs. I am super excited and feeling very honored, but it also got the gears turning again on a concern that owns some real estate in the back of my mind.

I live with a rare genetic disease that requires regular monitoring with MRIs and a few other tests. I also have to have occassional surgical interventions and take daily medications. For better or worse, I manage the physical symptoms of the disease better than these sorts of concerns. I have talked to grad student friends who shared their experiences with health insurance in their universities, but my situation is a bit unique. I have to be seen at a hospital with a team of doctors focused on my disease, and while I have chosen programs located near these centers, I am concerned about managing costs even with what looks to be generally good insurance. In looking over health insurance documents for the UK Grad School, I could see myself hitting the deductibles quickly (something I typically do anyway) and then hitting the out of pocket max nearly every year.

I have been working at good jobs for 10 years, and I am used to having more of an income cushion to deal with these costs. My current employer has also spoiled me with what boils down to a really good plan. I can make the adjustment to living day to day on $20-25k per academic year again, but I am concerned about the medical bills even for a normal year sucking up a huge chunk of that really quickly.

Is there anyone else here dealing with a similar situation? I would love to hear any others' experiences. I have options to continue working in my field, but this is really the one shot I will have to give the PhD a shot. While the physical issues are a concern, I have overcome major surgeries before and have my emotional act together around those challenges. Unfortunately, having to do battle with American health insurance companies and hospital billing offices scares the heck out of me. 

 

[avidnote]

Have you thought of doing your PhD outside of the states? I did my PhD in Sweden where they have universal healthcare so you wouldn't have to worry about the costs (aside from the cost of medication which is heavily subsidized). Depending on your area of study & university, the general pay for PhD students is pretty good. In my university, the salary was around 3200 USD/month (before tax), not including benefits (1 month paid vacation, 480 days paid parental leave etc) but it's not the same everywhere.

 

 

[dwb331]

On 2/7/2020 at 1:02 PM, avidnote said:

Have you thought of doing your PhD outside of the states? I did my PhD in Sweden where they have universal healthcare so you wouldn't have to worry about the costs (aside from the cost of medication which is heavily subsidized). Depending on your area of study & university, the general pay for PhD students is pretty good. In my university, the salary was around 3200 USD/month (before tax), not including benefits (1 month paid vacation, 480 days paid parental leave etc) but it's not the same everywhere.

 

 

Thanks for the response. I actually did look into it a bit, and I couldn't find a country that had the right combo of a clinical care center that is set up to deal with a multi-system disorder like mine, has such a favorable set-up for internationals in terms of generosity in program funding, and has programs that were quite the right match. I kept finding one out of three. Long-term, hoever, working internationally is an interest of mine for just these reasons.

Thank you, though, and I am glad it's worked out for you!