Health Insurance

[Venetia]

So my grad school just sent me all the details for their health insurance policy. It's pretty cheap, so the supplement that they're gving me will cover it. However, my Dad (who works in insurance, so knows what he's about) took a look at it and said that the 100,000 maximum benefit per illness would go nowhere near the health costs for a major illness. So I did some more research and found the NAGPS policy, which is twice the price but has a maximum benefit per illness of 275,000 (with the additional medical add-on), and my Dad still seems a little sceptical about that one. My question is, what is everyone else doing for health insurace? Is my Dad being a little too protective, or is there another option out there with increased coverage but not a horrific increase in price?

[Eigen]

Our school requires us to have 275k minimum policies, or enroll in the school policy.

Personally, I keep up only a relatively robust major medical policy- it's simple, and does what insurance is supposed to, and pays for the costs that I could possibly incur that I could not pay for.

Mine has a straight up 1900 deductible- everything I do in a year (including prescription drugs) counts towards that. Anything under 1900 I pay, anything over 1900 and up to 5 mil, my insurance company pays.

I chose to keep it over a more complicated plan my school offered. The school plan had more small benefits- co-pays on prescription drugs and treatments with no deductible.... But, the co-pays kept going for long after the deductible on my major medical would have capped.

Unless you have consistently large yearly healthcare bills, all you're looking for in insurance is something to act as a safety net in case something big happens. Hence my continuing recommendation for major medical plans for most younger people. Just save up your deductible at the start of the year, and then you won't have to worry about healthcare costs being more than you can manage at any point in the year.

[UnlikelyGrad]

I'm lucky. My department pays my fee for the student health plan, which is pretty amazing. Low co-pays, a high coverage limit ($2M). Plus vision and limited dental coverage...

The one downside is that you have to use the student health center for your PCP. I probably should go in for an annual check up, to see how good they are. I do know that the dentist is absolutely awesome.

[Infinite Monkeys]

I think, if you're in relatively good health and are proactive about your preventative care, then the basics are all you'd need (general "you"). Cover the "might happen" stuff, and it should ideally be enough. Me, I have pre-existing medical issues, so I have to have a relatively solid plan that'll cover what's going to keep me running--medication, mostly, but also periodic screenings, access to my specialists, and things like that. UCR's plan is included in my fees, and since it's a group plan, I'm not paying exorbitant extra fees or getting excluded entirely. Sure, I have to use the campus docs as my PCPs, but I do that here at CSUF, and the care was consistently better than through my official PCP (nice gal, but her office staff was rude and inefficient). Look, just cut the prescriptions that I've been on since I was 10, and life will continue on as usual.

I'm all for school plans--we're grad students and we're our universities' cheap labor. It's in their best interests to keep us alive and relatively functional.

[timuralp]

I'm lucky. My department pays my fee for the student health plan, which is pretty amazing. Low co-pays, a high coverage limit ($2M). Plus vision and limited dental coverage...

The one downside is that you have to use the student health center for your PCP. I probably should go in for an annual check up, to see how good they are. I do know that the dentist is absolutely awesome.

My school does the same. There is actually no coverage limit and no fees for grad students to pay (co-pay is included in the health fee that the department pays). The one thing I found is that I needed to get the slightly better dental plan, because the free one does not cover cavities, so just two of those ran me $500. Vision also has to be separate and runs about $10/month. Overall, I'm happy with it and think it's reasonable and I guess it also doesn't answer your question. You could probably shop around outside the university for insurance, but I doubt you'd find a much better deal.

[coyabean]

Do people really say 'Obamacare' with a serious face?

To the OP's concern: that is a relatively low cat limit. It sounds like your provider is banking on your relative youth. As a former h&w licensee I think your Dad has been trained to look at every contingency. The fact is that every policy has risk. Looks like your's is catastrophe. The cost, weighed against risk, is probably going to make addt'l coverage unnecessary. If you can get it then you can probably do without it. Sadly, if you could benefit you probably won't be able to get it or afford it. Here, changes to public healthcare could benefit you. On the rare chance that you end up needing something above your cat limit you will probably qualify for medicaid or can go into the high risk pool.

Barring some personal risk factors I would stick with campus plan. YMMV