health insurance

[jyoder111]

I'm leaving my job to be a full time student this fall and I'm shopping for cheap major medical health insurance. Anyone have any recommendations on a plan and how to get covered while hang gliding? thanks,

Jesse

[chuckok]

The school will likely have a policy you can buy into.

[jyoder111]

it does, but hang gliding is excluded in the fine print.

[brianvh]

Oh please tell me you are kidding. I think there's a chance it wouldn't stand up in court if you sued, but who has the time and money, especially against a big money-bags school? BTW, which school is it? If UM, at least one of us has already used it for HG accidents. If it is UM, as soon as I know you have read this I will be deleting.

[jyoder111]

not UM. I'll be going to Shenandoah University in Winchester, va

[brianvh]

Ah, they are very close to woodstock, small school so one incident looms large....not sure who it was but I'm guessing they had a pilot who crashed once. If you can't get school insurance the next bet is if you were ever part of some worker's union. See if they have an insurance program and re-up your dues.

[hang_pilot]

Hi, Jesse-

When in your same situation a few years ago, I got a quote from http://www.ehealthinsurance.com. They seemed to represent the major carriers active in our market. I chose a Blue Cross PPO with a premium in the range of the student health insurance plan at my university. Claims related to HG/PG were not excluded in any policies I considered.

Even if you don't enroll in their plan, you can probably still use the student health clinic at Shenandoah U for routine-type doctor's visits. That way you can avoid the insurance mandated co-payments and reserve that policy for more major medical purposes. Anyway, student plans often have low annual max payouts (~$100k), so a catastrophic claim could still bankrupt you even if you're enrolled.

Hope you have a great time in grad school!

Best,
Daniel