Disabled grad

[Jessica2014]

Hello, 

 

I have an unseen disability   (diabetic student) and was just wondering since I am an international student what type of support usually universities offers ?

particularly the universities in the east coast 

could any one just clarify it to me ?

thanks in advance 

[Neist]

I'm unsure if you're meaning medical support or support via accommodations, but nearly every single university in the US is subject to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). You can find a little bit more information about the ADA and universities here: https://adata.org/faq/what-are-public-or-private-college-universitys-responsibilities-students-disabilities. Usually, these accommodations are facilitated by some sort of disability resource center at the university. If you want to discretely determine if the universities that you're applying to have one of these centers, you might poke around their websites. They are usually quite private with their inquiries.

That said, if you're meaning medical support, most universities offer (and typically pay, for graduate students) some variety of medical insurance. For example, the university I attend has a clinic that's completely free to me. If you're concerned more about medical support, you might ask what sort of medical facilities the university you're interested in offers. It's a pretty common concern in the US given how expensive insurance can be here.

I hope that helps!  

 

[TakeruK]

As @Neist said, schools often offer a subsidized health insurance plan to their grad students. Even if it's not subsidized, the student plan is often much better and/or cheaper than a "market" plan because the insurance company knows that, in general, a group of students in their 20s are much less likely to have high medical bills than the open market, which includes people of all ages! If you are concerned about the cost of maintaining your illness (a very valid concern!), you can check the health insurance plans available to students at the schools you are interested in.

However, that said, unless a school was particularly bad (i.e. no plan at all), I would not automatically exclude that school from my application. You need to consider the health plan costs as part of your expenses/cost of living. Some schools might have worse coverage but pay you more, so you might still end up with more money. Other schools might pay you a lower stipend but cover more of your medical costs, so you might end up better off there. So, as long as a school's plan is not completely crappy, I would wait until I have an offer with a stipend value before deciding if the cost of maintaining my health is affordable.

Note also that although you may check things now, with the new US President, the health care laws in the country may change drastically by the time you start school. 

If you are looking for support in other ways, most schools will have things like meal/food options that are diabetic friendly and if you need additional accommodations for things like exams, you can get that from your school's disability office. In my field, sometimes you go on long field trips away from medical centers and if you have a medical concern where you cannot safely be away from doctors etc. you can definitely get assigned alternate work instead of going into the field. Just some examples.

[AP]

In addition, you might to browse around diabetes.org, College Diabetes Network, and this presentation. 

[OhSoSolipsistic]

If you take meds or need other prescribed supplies that the school insurance doesn't cover, you can write to pharmaceutical companies and ask them directly for what you've been prescribed. A lot will send you meds or supplies free of charge while you're in school, depending on the company and situational need.

[muskratsam]

"Even if it's not subsidized, the student plan is often much better and/or cheaper than a "market" plan because the insurance company knows that, in general, a group of students in their 20s are much less likely to have high medical bills than the open market, which includes people of all ages! "

This isn't really how it works under the ACA.  Plans are priced by age groups, so even in the open market right now, you are still priced along with other people your age.  A 22 year old pays a lot less than 50 year old in the current market.  I would look carefully at the coverage offered by a school plan before accepting it.  If it isn't sufficient for your needs, that could be a big problem if the individual market falls apart in the next couple of years (as it very well might). 

[TakeruK]

2 minutes ago, muskratsam said:

"Even if it's not subsidized, the student plan is often much better and/or cheaper than a "market" plan because the insurance company knows that, in general, a group of students in their 20s are much less likely to have high medical bills than the open market, which includes people of all ages! "

This isn't really how it works under the ACA.  Plans are priced by age groups, so even in the open market right now, you are still priced along with other people your age.  A 22 year old pays a lot less than 50 year old in the current market.  I would look carefully at the coverage offered by a school plan before accepting it.  If it isn't sufficient for your needs, that could be a big problem if the individual market falls apart in the next couple of years (as it very well might). 

Yes, you are right, but I meant something different than what I wrote (oops, sorry!) and what I think you are saying. What I mean is when my school negotiates a deal with our insurance company, my school officials have statistics on past student usage to justify a potentially lower premium. We can show that typically, our population makes X million dollars in claims, so the insurance company will want to collect X+30% million dollars in premiums. 

I was mistaken to say that comparing the open market to people of all ages. What I should have said was that our specific student population might have more reliable usage stats than the general age groups/bands in the open market. For example, a bunch of grad students that likely engage in more low-risk behaviours, working at desk jobs, etc. might be a more appealing group.

I don't know for sure. I learned this information because I work with the school officials as one of the student representatives in determining our health insurance plan. Maybe the school officials are somehow misleading me though. However, the numbers make sense. The full price of our student plan is $2700 per year, and the closest equivalent ACA plan in our state would cost over $4000 per year. Our school plan also has specifically negotiated benefits that we, as students, have lobbied for which aren't in the ACA plans, such as 25 free annual mental health professional visits (after which it's a $15 copay per visit). These benefits are added at a low cost because the stats show that usage rate in our population is low. And they know the size of the population so they know their maximum risk. It would be too risky for an insurance company to make this benefit available to the whole population. 

Sorry that I wasn't clear earlier and made the mistake with the age thing. What I really mean is that in some cases, having the smaller population of just students at the school allows the school to get a better value plan than what would be available to the open market.

[Jessica2014]

Wow! This discussion have really broaden my horizon. I didn't have think about the medical insurance or anything related to accommodation and all  as all receive all medical supplies and injection free of charge from my country. 

Sorry or not being clear in my first post, but I was talking about how university treated diabetic students, For instance, in the university that I attended to in the UK the lecturer actually mail me all the materials a day before the lecture and they give an extra time in the exams and all. 

As far as the insurance and prescribed medications I still don't know what the universities that I've applied to offers and how much I should pay for the insurance. I will have to see and look for the information though. 

Ps. I am 31 with a type one diabetic so I don't know how much I have to pay in the open market. 

 

thank you everyone for contributing in this discussion and please if you have any further information please pass it by as I am kinda lost here

 

Edited January 23, 2017 by Jessica2014

[TakeruK]

9 minutes ago, Jessica2014 said:

Sorry or not being clear in my first post, but I was talking about how university treated diabetic students, For instance, in the university that I attended to in the UK the lecturer actually mail me all the materials a day before the lecture and they give an extra time in the exams and all. 

On this point, the standard way of arranging this type of support is to talk to the school's disability/accessibility office when you arrive (or feel free to start a conversation when you are still considering offers). In case you are not familiar with how things work in the US, the method that most will suggest is to talk to this office and arrange for whatever support you need (you may need documentation in some cases). Then, with a note from this office, you can talk to your professors and they will provide the accommodations necessary.

Alternatively (or in addition to), you can also talk to each professor one on one and ask for whatever support you need (e.g. getting materials early etc.). If you are more comfortable with this, then this route is better. But, most officials and profs may recommend you go to the disability office first because 1) there is no need to convince each person one at a time and 2) it will help you get the support you need faster.

Just one note though--at least in my field, it's common for professors to not have the notes ready for the lecture until the day of the class. 

15 minutes ago, Jessica2014 said:

Ps. I am 31 with a type one diabetic so I don't know how much I have to pay in the open market. 

Currently, under the ACA law, you aren't allowed to be charged a higher rate because of diabetes. So you would pay the same as other 31 year olds. But this law might change---repealing and replacing ACA is one of the Trump administration's main goals  If it goes back to the way it was before ACA, you might not even be able to purchase insurance

[Jessica2014]

16 hours ago, TakeruK said:

On this point, the standard way of arranging this type of support is to talk to the school's disability/accessibility office when you arrive (or feel free to start a conversation when you are still considering offers). In case you are not familiar with how things work in the US, the method that most will suggest is to talk to this office and arrange for whatever support you need (you may need documentation in some cases). Then, with a note from this office, you can talk to your professors and they will provide the accommodations necessary.

Alternatively (or in addition to), you can also talk to each professor one on one and ask for whatever support you need (e.g. getting materials early etc.). If you are more comfortable with this, then this route is better. But, most officials and profs may recommend you go to the disability office first because 1) there is no need to convince each person one at a time and 2) it will help you get the support you need faster.

Just one note though--at least in my field, it's common for professors to not have the notes ready for the lecture until the day of the class. 

Currently, under the ACA law, you aren't allowed to be charged a higher rate because of diabetes. So you would pay the same as other 31 year olds. But this law might change---repealing and replacing ACA is one of the Trump administration's main goals  If it goes back to the way it was before ACA, you might not even be able to purchase insurance

Thank you @Takeruk I've been checking the universities that I've applied and  there seems a lot to offer, I hope soon I got the offers so I can decide.