Berkeley Parents Network: Health Insurance for Student Families

Berkeley Parents Network

Health Insurance for Student Families

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Insurance > Health Insurance for Student Families

UCB student dental insurance

May 2006

Help! I need dental work and the list of dentists for the UCB dental insurance coverage is so long...does anyone have a dentist they use that takes our student insurance and they would recommend them? thanks michele

The UCB student dental insurance covers 80% of the costs of using dentists who aren't on their list, so if you can afford to pay the other 20% yourself, you have a LOT of choices. I use Dr. Clopton on Regent St. and really like him--I can get an appointment within a couple of weeks of when I call, he explains everything he does, and more than any dentist I've had before, carefully points out areas where I can do a better job of dental care myself to avoid having drilling done later. Elizabeth

I've been seeing Michael Young on Solano in Albany for almost 6 years now, and he definitely takes the UCB student insurance. I've never had anything but cleanings and x-rays but my daughter has had a couple of fillings done. I've always been pleased with his work; it is a small, friendly office and they schedule my daughter and I together so we only have to go in once. Kristen

I go to University Dental at Solano/San Pablo Ave in Albany. Their phone number is 510-528-7216. I have seen 3 different dentists over the last 5 years, and I think that all the dentists in the practice are excellent. The best part is that you just give them your student ID while making an appointment, and they get all the information directly from Tang center records and SHIP insurance. No filling out forms or hassles. It is very easy to get an appointment within 2-3 days and same day for emergencies. The front desk lady is wonderful. She would work patiently with you and maximize your benefit. For example, I needed 4 molars extracted last year. The maximum SHIP allows is $1000 for a calendar year. So she suggested to get two extractions done in December and two in January! That way it was all covered, leaving some for twice a year cleanings. I could even chew on one side while the other side was sore for a couple of days after extraction. There are coupons for extras, such as teeth whitening (not covered by SHIP) in the Guide to Good Life at Berkeley book. Overall, the office is very nice and makes you feel that they care about you, and do their best to accomodate your needs and budget as a student. They even pick you up from campus! happy teeth

My baby won't be covered under my student health insurance. What can I do?

Sept 2005

I am a student and expecting my first baby by the end of September. This is about my baby’s insurance. I have a good insurance coverage through my work as a student researcher at UC Davis, which is a Blue Cross PPO type of coverage. I am told by UCD that my insurance, unlike to the most of plans, doesn’t cover the baby except for the day of delivery. Also, UC doesn’t provide family plans to students, and it means that I have to buy individual coverage for the baby separately. I have tried several ways to do that or to get information such as Blue Cross, Health Net, Healthy Family, DMHC, and etc. and the bottom line is that my baby cannot have coverage sooner than two weeks after birth. That’s because all these plans need to have the birth certificate to be able to do the paperwork and activate the coverage for the baby as an individual. So, as you can see from the day after delivery until two weeks in the best scenario the baby won’t have insurance.

I even tried to buy another coverage for myself and add the newborn on that, but my situation is considered as pre-existing condition and again the baby cannot get coverage through me.

The whole concern is if something happens during the delivery or in the first two weeks that get the baby to NICU or hospitalization. We are willing to pay as much as needed now to find any type of insurance and not to take the risk of unexpected situations.

Honestly, I am hopeless regarding this issue and have spent lots of time calling people. I I hope maybe someone has had a similar situation or know a way that may help me. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you might have, B

Is the office totally sure that babies aren't covered beyond the first day? My newborn was covered by UC Berkeley's SHIP insurance (Blue Cross) for a couple of weeks when I was a grad student in 2003. (It seemed to be a confusing process for them to put in place, and we did have some mix-ups to correct, but at least she was covered.) Have you talked to the highest-level people you can to confirm? insured, luckily!

You should not have to wait for the birth certificate. I work for San Francisco State University, and have Blue Sheild HMO. I gave birth August 3rd at Alta Bates in Berkeley and the hospital gave me a formal hospital letter verifying the birth of my baby, specifically for forwarding to my insurance company to get my baby added to my coverage. I was given the letter when I was discharged. (You didn't mention it, but if you are giving birth in a hospital, they will probably give you one, too). I then gave this letter to my benefits coordinator to forward to Blue Shield for me. Your benefits or HR specialist should be able to advise you as to how to forward this letter to the Blue Shield PPO.

BTW: are you *sure* your baby is only covered up to birth? I was told that mine was covered, automatically, up to 30 days after birth, so I just had to make sure she was added by that point. Also, I was told that if she wasn't on there by the time of her next doctor appointment (because of a mix-up with the paperwork on my part, she might not be added quite in time), that was okay, the appointment would be retroactively covered, I would just have to have the claim resubmitted by my HR benefits specialist. Worth looking into?

Best, of luck. Most likely (unless you have a pre-existing medical condition that you know will probably cause problems) everything will be fine, and you won't need it anyway! Alesia

Hi! I feel your pain! My insurance covers the baby for the remainder of the month they are born, which in the case of my first son was no big deal, as he was born on May 16th. However, this preg. is due February 27th! So the possibility of being stuck is definetly at the front of my mind.

That being said, my first child is under Healthy Families, which (theoretically) starts 13 days after they recieve the birth certificate, which can be faxed from the hospital the day of the birth if you like and have the wherewithall to get that together. However, if you have to front anything between the birth and the coverage, I was told they would reimburse you later. You might have to talk to quite a few people before you get a straightforward answer on that policy...

Also, if you're willing to front some money, Kaiser has an individual child health plan that you can sign up for beforehand and pay for monthly until you are able to get a cheaper alternative together... plus Alameda county Healthy Families uses kaiser if you like, which means no switching pediatricians, etc when it comes to fruition. Beware the Healthy Families Bureaucracy, though!!!!! It took us FIVE MONTHS (Three prior to birth and two after) to get everything finalized!

Feel free to email me if you have anymore questions regarding Kaiser, HF and the like... I'm more experienced with them then I wish to be, but am happy with both presently... as long as this next baby is born March 1st! Sarah

Have you tried Medi-Cal? No matter how late you are in your pregnancy, if you are income-eligible, they will cover you and your baby until you can get a birth certificate. It doesn't matter if you have insurance already. I am in a similar situation and this is what I ended up with. Good luck! Anonymous

My understanding was that it is the law that YOUR health plan must carry the baby for the first 30 days of life. This is what I was told as a student at UCB when I had my son and had their insurance. After the first 30 days (maybe it was 14, but it was enough time for the paperwork to transfer) it was my responsibility to have him covered by another plan but MY plan had no choice but to cover those first few days. If you get stonewalled at UCD ( and I got A LOT of bad/wrong info before I just demanded to talk to the person in charge of insurance for all of UCB) try calling the local insurance comissioner to check on the laws about this. Best of luck. know it's crazy making

Oct 2005

University Health Services can help you learn about and get connected to the health insurance options available for dependents. We are knowledgeable about a variety of individual private insurance plans as well as community-based plans, both publicly supported and nonprofit. Please start by visiting our web site, http://www.uhs.berkeley.edu/students/insurance/families.shtml, which includes descriptions of the available plans and links to the plans' web sites. You can start the selection process by reviewing the plans and evaluating their benefit levels and prices. When you are ready for additional assistance, please call or stop by the Student Health Insurance Office on the third floor of the Tang Center, (510) 642-5700. Thanks,

Heather Pineda, MPH
Health Plan Administrator
University Health Services
University of California, Berkeley

Alternatives to DHIP (Dependent Health Insurance)

March 2000

DHIP rates just went up another 20% !! Can anyone recommend an alternative to the university's DHIP program? (they sell Blue Cross California Care HMO to students w/ dependents) The current rate for 3-party family is $1278 (that's $142 per person, per month). Seems like a lot... What are other people doing for health care coverage for their spouse/kids if they don't receive it from their employer? Recs for other plans or agents would be greatly appreciated... also, some figures regarding what people are paying monthly for their coverage. Thanks, Holly.

I got a flyer in the mail the other day that addresses this topic. Seems that Kaiser offers a "personal advantage" plan to individuals and families. $15 office visits, $10 copay for Rx. Assuming one spouse is under 40 yrs, a family plan would be $338/mo for both parents and all children. For just one parent and one child it would be $194/mo, and for one child only it would be $69/mo. There are many more options. The flyer said: "To obtain a no obligation enrollment kit, call 1-800-325-6662. Applicants are subject to a medial review." Good luck! Dawn

I know what you mean! We bailed out of DHIP long ago for a private insurer (Frankel Ins.?) whose rates were cheaper than DHIP -- the way it was explained to us, DHIP is higher because of the pregnancy coverage -- the California Care HMO we got through Frankel Ins. was exactly the same as the DHIP coverage, but with an additional $1,000 co-pay in case of pregnancy. But eventually even that got out of hand -- we were billed monthly, and it got to be close to $400/mo. I struggled with whether to get on the Healthy Families program (which is a very good program, if you haven't already checked them out), but I couldn't bear to give up my pediatrician. Finally I decided to go directly to Blue Cross and change our coverage from a $10/co-pay to a $40/co-pay. This reduced our monthly premium to $156. It works for us -- good luck! MMRivas

If you haven't already, check out http://www.ehealthinsurance.com. You can browse a variety of plans and experiment with different copayments/deductibles to determine your costs. Good Luck! Rachel

Options for two students expecting a baby

Aug 1999

My wife and I (both graduate students covered by GSHIP) are expecting a child. We're looking for affordable health insurance for our baby, since the health plan for dependants of graduate students offered by the university is quite expensive. Any suggestions or recommendations, please? Rolando

I shopped around for insurance for my second child who is UNDER ONE, but most stuff seemed about the same price or more than the University's DHIP (about $100/month). Until your child turns one, DHIP might be a good deal. (I am personally pretty annoyed with DHIP because my baby had to pay $145/month not $100. I guess there's a $45/month penalty for having 2 children on DHIP and for a while I was unknowingly paying the $245/month for two!)

But consider this: If you make less than around $2500/month (it's $2700 for a family of 4), you could probably get no-cost Medi-Cal for the child's first year. Medi-Cal is a PAIN! (E.g. some workers don't realize that recipients are now allowed to have large savings.) But eventually they have to pay your bills if you qualify. Call "Healthy Families" (in phone book) and ask for a mail-in application. Lara (Or see Recommendations for the Healthy Families Program

Good Luck.

Depending on your income level I would look into:

o Blue Cross of California (in the yellow pages)
OR
o The Healthy Families program (http://HealthyFamilies.ca.gov/>) The Healthy Families Program is a state and federal funded health coverage program for children with family incomes above the level eligible for no cost Medi-Cal and below 200% of the federal income guidelines ($27,756 for a family of three). Caroline

I have to admit I'm not in touch with the range of health insurance prices, but I suggest you check out Blue Shield. We have their HMO insurance for our son and it's $63/month for a 5+ year old (somewhat more for younger children). Kaiser might also cover individual children, and if they do, they may be cheaper. It seems that not many companies will give minors their own policy. Fran

If your income is within 150 or 200% of the poverty line, I would strongly recommend you apply for Healthy Families, a state run program which we use for our son, and that you can link to via the parents web page, I believe. We were able to keep him with Kaiser, with basically the same coverage we had when my wife worked there, but the program allows you to use anyone of many HMOs and PPOs. It costs us $7/mo. (sliding scale, I think), with the fourth month waived if three months are payed ahead of time, or smthg like that. The copays are nominal. Also, remember that the state has a similar program for pregnant women, in case the GSHIP doesn't have good coverage for pregnancy. Good luck. Eric

Strangely enough, I got information about a program called AIM (Access for Infants and Mothers) when I bought some diapering products at Safeway the other day. The income guidelines appear to be between 200-300% of what is considered the poverty line. It's worth investigating anyway. Here's their web site: http://www.mrmib.ca.gov/MRMIB/AIM.html#AIMIntro Myriam

SHIP and mental health benefits

1997

Those people interested in seeing a marriage counselor or undergoing other therapy should know that SHIP (Student Health Insurance Plan) covers up to 600$ of outpatient psychotherapy per calender year. The maximum reimbursement per visit is $40. Since the coverage is per calender year, you can see a therapist for sessions spanning Nov-March, for instance, and get $1200 paid for through your insurance! I'm not sure whether or not staff are covered in a similar way, but this is certainly worth pursuing for grad students.

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