What is the best way to buy insurance for international students in the United States?

By: kevin zhao Sep. 03,2021

          All colleges and universities in the U.S. provide health insurance to students, and unless students voluntarily waive the school's insurance, the school will directly enroll students in the school each year or semester. If If you want to buy off-campus insurance, the first thing you need to determine is whether the school allows international students to buy off-campus insurance, and if so, what the requirements are for the insurance.

How to choose insurance for international students in the United States?

The first thing to look for when choosing insurance is whether the insurance provides enough in network doctors and hospital resources in the student's area. This information is usually listed on the insurance company's website. After determining the convenience of medical treatment, you should also look at the deductible, co-insurance, and exclusions of the insurance plan. Generally speaking, the lower the deductible, the higher the co-insurance. The lower the deductible, the higher the co-insurance, and the fewer the exclusions, the better the insurance and the higher the price. But there is a misunderstanding in the above answer: that is, to buy insurance, you must buy the best.

The right way is to buy the best insurance. In fact, the right way is to choose an insurance plan according to your health condition. If you need to see a doctor frequently, it is best to buy a better insurance policy. But If you are healthy and don't see a doctor once a year, a plan with a high deductible is the most affordable way to go. Take car insurance as an analogy, if students are good drivers If you are a good driver and are careful enough to be accident-free, there is no need to spend a lot of money on a low deductible plan.

ISO generally offers several different levels of coverage and prices for each school that can be waived. Students can choose the best coverage for themselves based on their health status and budget. You can choose the one that best suits your health and budget.

What should I pay attention to when buying insurance for international students in the United States?

The first thing to clarify is which insurance policies international students are eligible to buy, and then how to pick one.

In the first case, if the school you are studying in forces students to buy the international student health insurance provided by the school, then you have no choice, whether it is one or two thousand or three or four thousand premiums. You have no choice but to purchase on-campus insurance, whether it costs $1,000 or $2,000 or $3,000 or $4,000. But whether the school's insurance is expensive or cheap, the benefits must be the best compared to a regular insurance plan.


In the second case, there are some schools that do not require students to purchase school insurance, but in order to be responsible for their students, the school requires that the student's off-campus insurance meet certain restrictions. In other words, you can't just buy a random insurance policy on the market to replace the school insurance. Therefore, in this case, as long as you are able to get an insurance policy that is approved by the school, there is no chance of getting the wrong one. Therefore, in this case, as long as you are able to get an insurance policy that is approved by the school, there is basically no question of getting the wrong one.

The third situation is that during the OPT period or when the school does not mandate insurance details, as long as you have health insurance, or you are not required to have insurance at all, in this case, we can only choose our own insurance plan. In this case, we can only rely on our own selection, insurance plans are just a few points, doctor network, Copay, Coinsurance, Annual deductible and Out-of-pocket Maximum. Basically, these items can determine whether an insurance plan is the one you need, and also directly affect the premium.

The insurance plan for international students in the U.S. is recommended:

If you have special medical needs, such as pregnancy and childbirth, it is recommended to purchase school group health insurance. Usually, school health insurance has more complete coverage for special medical items such as pregnancy and childbirth, and less The school health insurance is usually more complete and less restrictive for special medical items such as pregnancy and childbirth.

Most international students coming to the U.S. have similar medical needs, so more and more international students are choosing off-campus health insurance tailored for the international student community, saving a significant amount of money on premiums!


There are many health insurance companies in the U.S., and each company has a variety of health insurance plans, so how should international students choose among the many insurance companies and plans?

First of all, before we buy health insurance, we must pay attention to the following items in the policy, so that we can choose the right insurance for ourselves:

1. the burden of health insurance premiums (Premium Cost). This refers to the policyholder to pay the health insurance premium is of course the lower the better, but must be based on a comparison of other factors, such as the reputation of the insurance company, coverage (if there is
However, it must be based on the comparison of other factors, such as the credibility of the insurance company, coverage (e.g., no dental insurance, gynecological examination, vaccine coverage, etc.), co-payment, maximum payment, deductible, discharge and repatriation clauses, compensation payment and other restrictions, etc.

2. Annual maximum payment (Out-of-pocket maximum).

This is the maximum amount that can be paid by an individual during the period of coverage (usually one year). Until this maximum is reached, the insurance company and the individual are jointly responsible for the medical expenses in accordance with the insurance rules.
Until this limit is reached, the insurance company and the individual are jointly responsible for the medical expenses in accordance with the insurance rules. When the individual payment reaches the maximum limit, the insurance company will be responsible for 100% of the medical expenses.

Deductible of the insurance plan.
This is the amount of medical expenses that the insured must first pay for themselves. If you have a deductible of $500, your insurance will cover your medical expenses only if you spend more than $500 on doctor visits and medications.
Your insurance will only begin to cover claims after you have spent more than $500 on medication.

4. Understand the co-insurance of the insurance plan (Co-insurance).

This refers to the proportion of the total medical costs that the insured and the insurance company share if the total medical costs exceed the amount of the deductible. For example, some insurance plans pay 80 percent of the medical expenses and the insured The insured person pays 20%. Insurance plans may also have different co-payment rates for different illnesses, with some illnesses being higher and others being lower. There is usually a table that shows the co-payment rates for each condition. In addition, there are some plans that have different rates for different components of medical expenses.

5. Coverage and Special Limits.

This means that many health insurance plans in the U.S. do not cover dental care and maternity care, so if you need it, you need to purchase special dental insurance. For some medical For certain medical services, many insurance plans have certain limits on payment, such as limits on hospitalization, doctors, surgery, anesthesia, psychotherapy, etc.

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