abhattac5 wrote:
Follow-up questions:
- So if we quit a few mos before B-school, then how soon should we start planning / obtaining a policy?
- I thought COBRA was only for people who were involuntarily laid off. Does it apply for people like us who want to quit as well?
- To people who are in B-school already or know a lot about the subject -- How comprehensive is the coverage at most B-schools?
- Would setting up an HSA before-hand be a good idea to cover premiums / co-pays / etc? (This is assuming that school plans aren't that great.)
(This post is for those of us who don't live in a country with universal health insurance. To all of you Brits / Canadians / etc: unless / until you arrive in the US, you're lucky to have to not deal with this problem.)
- You should start shopping for insurance as soon as possible. School plans will have their own deadlines (which you should be able to find on the school health service's website) but if you decide to go out into the general market, generally you can get quotes for health insurance plans that start 90 days in the future. If you do go outside the school, the processing of your application can take some time and you'll want to have that all taken care of before you show up at school. So decide when you want your new policy to start, then work back from there.
- Anyone who leaves their job is eligible to enroll in coverage under COBRA, not just people who are laid off. However, since you have to pay the full cost of the insurance coverage, plus an administrative fee, it can be very expensive. Keep in mind most employers who offer insurance pick up a significant portion of the premiums, sometimes as much as 70%.
- I can't speak for other schools definitively, but I'd think it's all pretty comparable. The coverage here is pretty comprehensive: $250 deductible, then 20% coinsurance until you reach the $1,000 out of pocket max. Of course, as with any insurance, the trade-off for comprehensive coverage is premium costs. Here, the premiums are $2400 per year for the student (x2 if a spouse goes on the plan too), + about $3000 per child. Because of the high premiums, and my own health needs, I opted to go for a slightly less comprehensive plan from Blue Cross which has a higher annual OOP limit but saves me almost $1000 a year in premiums.
- As I understand it, you can only contribute to an HSA if you have an eligible high-deductible insurance plan. So if you have one of those plans and anticipate spending a good amount of money on healthcare during school, definitely make the contributions while you get the tax benefits from it. I don't believe you can use withdrawals from an HSA to pay insurance premiums, just for medical care itself.