Clincal Student in Illinois

[gambino]

Hello,

I was a student who transferred into st. chris for clinicals and was told by the clinical coordinator (dr. saeed) about having health insurance through AMSA before being allowed to start clincials. Following his advice I completed the necessary paperwork and got enrolled. As luck would have it, I ended up getting food poisoning a week after I got enrolled through AMSA. Here is where the problems come in. The AMSA student health insurance plan advertises that they will "pay up to 80%" of your medical bills, but my bill from the ER came out to nearly $4000 (including CT scans, bloodwork, Xrays, etc.) . This cheap gluteal piece of crap for a health insurance plan is now not offering to pay more than $1200 saying that the other charges were "over the benefits of the plan" and that the "plan is NOT comprehensive" i.e. they only supplement what most American medical schools offer their own students, the lady on the phone stated that they should NOT be considered a "primary insurer" and that if my school or AMSA stated this as such then they were at fault for doing this. My questions are:

1. Is what she is saying true?
2. Are there other health insurance plans that offer COMPREHENSIVE coverage (cover more than 50% of your bills if you get sick? or hospitalized?) [God forbid if anyone ever got into a car accident and had to be treated under AMSA's plan ]
3. Does St. christopher's offer any other forms of health insurance?
4. Some students on this board mentioned that health coverage is available in England, does this apply to students in clincals as well?

Any answers would be most appreciated.

regards,
sh

[stchrisrep]

The AMSA student plan advertises that they will "pay up to 80%" of your medical bills, but my bill from the ER came out to nearly $4000 (including CT scans, bloodwork, Xrays, etc.) . This cheap gluteal piece of crap for a plan is now not offering to pay more than $1200 saying that the other charges were "over the benefits of the plan" and that the "plan is NOT comprehensive" i.e. they only supplement what most American medical schools offer their own students, the lady on the phone stated that they should NOT be considered a "primary insurer" and that if my school or AMSA stated this as such then they were at fault for doing this. My questions are:



No matter what insurance policy you purchase, you always have to read
the fine print. There is a detailed brochure available on StudentResouces.com

http://www.studentresources.com/college/ViewBrochures.aspx




2. Are there other plans that offer COMPREHENSIVE coverage (cover more than 50% of your bills if you get sick? or hospitalized?) [God forbid if anyone ever got into a car accident and had to be treated under AMSA's plan ]



You can search online for alternatives but you will probably have to pay more for more coverage.

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com



3. Does St. christopher's offer any other forms of health insurance?



St. Chris does not offer health insurance but only malpractice insurance.
The plan you got is sponsored by AMSA. Students are expected to get
health insurace on their own. St. Chris only recommends the AMSA plan
and does not offer it itself. The insurance plan is underwritten by
The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.



4. Some students on this board mentioned that health coverage is available in England, does this apply to students in clincals as well?



This only applies if you live and study in England. This is one of the
advantages of doing clinicals in England. You just have to sign up with
the NHS system since it is socialized.

[ISI_Student_Insurance]

Dear Gambino,

There are a great number of insurance plans out there, and of course some are going to be better than others. An extremely important point that stchrisrep mentioned was to read the fine print of any policy!! Although its really important to make sure you know what you are covered for, its also even more important to make sure you know what you are NOT covered for..... Read the exclusions, and the best way is to speak with someone at the company, and ask them what you are not covered for - if you can't get hold of that company then move onto the next! You as an insured, need to get hold of them or they need to get back in touch with you within 24 hourse as a rule of thumb!

If you would like to talk about this on a more personally basis, I would be very happy to guide you in the right direction, we have a few plans which might work or I would be happy to point you in the right direction! Simple email me directly at rmason@internationalstudentinsurance.com

Hope this helps!
Ross Mason