Student Health Insurance in USA
The US Healthcare is one of the best in the world IF you can afford it. The doctors are very qualified, hospitals and equipments are truly world-class but the same can not be said of the insurance and payment systems. The way healthcare works in USA is that the cost of healthcare is very high and a vast majority of Americans cannot pay for their healthcare out of the pocket, if they do not have enough insurance coverage. So having a health insurance is really critical to one?s survival.
The concept of health insurance in USA is more complicated than GRE or GMAT and takes a lot of time energy and disappointment before you really understand how things work. In most countries of the developed, developing and third world, people are used to the idea of free healthcare and free medicine for routine healthcare needs. It is nothing less than a cultural shock to realize that the treatment cost for any accident or significant even minor health issue can run into thousands of dollars in USA.
It cannot be stressed enough that as students you should be covered for the entire duration of your stay with health insurance that confirms to your University guidelines. Contact the University health center or international students? program office to find out what is the recommended coverage. In most cases a teaching or research assistantship comes with added benefits which may include health insurance coverage. If you lose your assistantship, you lose the coverage too. So It is your own responsibility to buy health insurance which takes care of your needs in the event of loss of coverage.
Some options to consider:
Comprehensive yet affordable health insurance is provided by ISO. ISO is a leading service provider organization administered solely by current and former international students. The leading plans are Compass plans and ISO Med plans. There are plans available from $30 per month, which would provide extensive coverage and benefits comparable with those provided by most universities. The ISO plan meets the criteria of most Universities.
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