Parental Insurance Coverage For Students
Written by Julie Johnson
My wife and I own a small business in Florida, and we have to buy health insurance to cover our family. We have four children, two sons and two daughters. Our one daughter has some developmental and health problems. Because of those problems she will always need some help or guidance throughout her life. Because we have a child with special needs, our insurance premiums costs are very high. In fact, you could rent a one-bedroom apartment for less than we pay in monthly insurance premiums.
This past summer my oldest son got an apartment with some friends and moved out of our house. He took a year off from school to earn some money for college but he is registered to start school in January 2010. Shortly after he moved out of our house he developed some health issues and became very sick with pains in his stomach and side. We took him to our family doctor who sent us to a specialist. The specialist examined him, did some blood work and ran several other tests. At this point, there is no diagnosis, so he needs more tests and possibly needs to see another doctor.
Because of his age, as we went to each doctor's office, my son had to fill out paperwork with his name and address and show his ID. His driver's license has his apartment address on it. At each office he was asked if he was a student or would be in the Fall. Truthfully, he said no he wasn't, but he was planning to start school in January.
When the doctors' offices submitted their bills to my insurance company, the claims started coming back denied. I didn't understand this. I knew my son wasn't too old to be covered by our insurance. Only three weeks after his 19th birthday he was in the emergency room with an injury, and that entire bill, minus our deductible, was covered. What was the difference this time?
Apparently the difference is his status had changed. When we took him to the emergency room he still lived under our roof and we supported him. The issue isn't that he no longer lives with us but that he lives away from us and is not a student. In short, to be covered under our insurance policy if he is not going to school he has to be living in our home or he can have his own place and be enrolled in college with at least 12 credits a semester. Why didn't the insurance company tell us this requirement?
Where we stand right now is we have about $3,000 in bills for office visits and various tests that we are responsible for paying. We were told when my son starts college and we can prove he is taking 12 credits per semester, we can put him back on our insurance. In the meantime, if he needs to see a doctor, then we will have to pay all of the costs.
You need to keep up to date with your health insurance policies. There is some extremely little fine print that needs to be studied when you get medical insurance so that you understand all of the implications.
