Health Insurance for a student wishing to study in America.

HampshireH

Why can you not use the same funding you are currently using to pay for the meds when in the US ?"

NHS services dont extend to the US. The OP would be moving to a country without a free national health service.. Costs will probably exceed those here too

From a 2018 article;

"The median charge for an infliximab infusion was $5,700 when administered at home vs. $6,200 when administered at a treatment center,"

And thats just 1 of the two medications.

CallumWood

Sorry for the late reply on this. In America, they have deductibles. For example, you might have to pay $6,000 before they are willing to pay anything, then after that amount has been reached you might have to pay 25% of the bill until you reach the out of pocket mask around $10,000ish for example. However, the people who make the drug I take, offers a careplan in America. They will pay for all of your out of pocket costs, so basically I will only have to pay for the monthly premium which would be around $200-$250 per month. Thanks for everyone that's replied though.

CallumWood

jonesMUFCforever said:

I have a feeling that the first time poster might have taken us all for a ride - good story though.

I didn't, this is a legit post. I've just been posting on lots of different forums and I forgot about this one. 

davidmcn

CallumWood said:

the people who make the drug I take, offers a careplan in America. They will pay for all of your out of pocket costs

And do they do that for foreign visiting students?

csgohan4

davidmcn said:

CallumWood said:

the people who make the drug I take, offers a careplan in America. They will pay for all of your out of pocket costs

And do they do that for foreign visiting students?

 If the OP did that research before posting on a UK website, it would have been sorted. 

DCFC79

CallumWood said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

I have a feeling that the first time poster might have taken us all for a ride - good story though.

I didn't, this is a legit post. I've just been posting on lots of different forums and I forgot about this one. 

So what other advice have you received on other forums ?

CallumWood

davidmcn said:

CallumWood said:

the people who make the drug I take, offers a careplan in America. They will pay for all of your out of pocket costs

And do they do that for foreign visiting students?

DCFC79 said:

CallumWood said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

I have a feeling that the first time poster might have taken us all for a ride - good story though.

I didn't, this is a legit post. I've just been posting on lots of different forums and I forgot about this one. 

So what other advice have you received on other forums ?

Correct, they do offer it for foreign students. The whole insurance system in America is a maze. I went onto reddit and found a Crohn's subreddit and asked for some advice. When trying to understand the American medical insurance system there's some important terms that must be recognised:

- Premium - what you pay every month to be enrolled in the plan. This is not included in the out of pocket max calculation

- Deductible - what I will have to pay before insurance will pay anything

- Coinsurance - the percentage of each bill I'll pay after your deductible until you reach the out of pocket maximum

- Co-pays - a fixed price for a service ($25 for a primary care/GP visit, for example)

- Out of pocket max - the total amount I'll pay in a year, deductible plus coinsurance plus co-pays (does not include premiums)

Janssen, the manufacturer of the drug I take, offers a careplan where they pay for all the out of pocket costs the drug may cost you. For example, the deductible might be $10,000 and then you must pay 15% of what the drug costs everytime until you reach the out of pocket max which might be $15,000. Janssen, will pay for everything regarding the drug up to your out of pocket mask. It essentially means I will only have to pay the monthly premium fee. 

Weighty1

Something sounds a little amiss here.  So a medication you need and costs thousands of $ has a careplan in America were you only pay 1/20th of the cost that it would normally cost, with no "deductible"?  

I don't know a lot about the healthcare system in America, other than it is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy in the USA.  On that basis, why would a pharmaceutical company offer this careplan?

I'm not saying you are wrong BTW, only that you want to make 100% you are correct before getting caught up in something which is either going to cost you thousands OR is going to mean you can't get treatment when necessary.

Even if this careplan is completely watertight, what about the cost of insurance to cover things like hospitalisation if you have a flare up?  Surely with a chronic condition like Crohn's this is going to be significantly impacted?