A Healthy Dose on Health Insurance
Before your child goes off to college -NOW?- it is extraordinarily helpful to teach them about the basics of health insurance. While this may feel as daunting as it is dull, it is as important as almost anything you may impart to your child. For while we may think of our children/young adults as being in their healthiest time of life, they will inevitably encounter some moment during their time away when they may need some medical intervention, be it a benign vaccine booster of some sort or a treatment for a more complex issue requiring hospitalization. More importantly, they will turn 18 either before or during their time in college, and at that time, they become the owners of their health information. All results, billing information, and so on will be mailed to them - not to you. There will be times they will share this information with you, perhaps even sign consent for you to participate in the decision-making and bill-paying, but there may also be times when they will desire confidentiality for their medical care (this is appropriate!) and so they need to have some information at their fingertips to be empowered to make decisions.
You’ll have to make time for this - it’ll never be something you’ll look forward to, I’m guessing - but you can make it engaging if you try! Sit down with your child and review some of the terminology and perhaps even a medical bill you’ve received. Terms like copay, co-insurance, deductible, EOB (explanation of benefits) are essential. Explain to them how finding providers/hospitals/pharmacies that are in-network vs out-of-network impacts how much you will pay for services and medications (and how often this status changes, unfortunately). You will be surprised at how often our children believe that because we have health insurance, we don’t have to pay anything more for health care! (If only!)
Most importantly, make sure that you give your child a copy of their health insurance card to have with them at all times. (If you can have it laminated, even better!) This is as important as their driver’s license and their debit card. Explain how your particular plan works, what is covered, and what the card numbers indicate. If you have a separate card for prescriptions, ensure they have that as well.
Many colleges will offer health insurace as part of the tuition package, often requiring you to actually opt out in order to continue to only use your own, family insurance instead of the college insurance. My advice is to examine what is offered by the college. It may be a less expensive opportunity for decent coverage, and inclusive of services that are local to the community surrounding the college.
While this is not a sexy topic, it is a crucial one that is part of every students’ essential education.