Thoroughly OT warning to parents of college age kids in CA...

The state of California has decided that it has the right to decide if the medical insurance you have--and pay for--is "good enough" for your kid's needs and if they decide it is not they will add another $1300 or so on to your tuition bill.  (I don't know if that's an annual fee or just for a semseter or quarter or whatever.)

I'm old but have two friends with kids in CA colleges this year.  One has Kaiser and the closest Kaiser is 40 miles from the campus.  The state charged the family $1300 because they decided that even though Kaiser WILL pay for services for an emergency, 40 miles is too far for urgent or non-emergency service.  Not up to the parents...up to the state.

The other family is doing quite well financially, thank you very much, and because of that they have a high deductible on their medical insurance.  The state of California--in the person of the University System--decided that they needed to pay the state $1300 for medical insurance that had a lower deductible.  The parents didn't get to decide.

Both of them won their appeals...THIS TIME.  

But that letter said that NEXT YEAR, the state will have a system-wide program and parents would not be able to appeal the decisions.

Any of y'all with HS age kids headed to college or kids currently in state colleges need to contact your state Assemblyperson and demand that the state of California back the hell out of your personal family decisions.

(I got no dog in this fight...my "kid" went to a private college and is already an old woman.  But this is just STUPID.)

Sue

I'm guessing you helped with those appeals.  If so, good on you.

And what a crock - the state is wrong on both accounts - so long as the child - oh wait - ADULT! - has access to medical treatment off campus, what right does the school have to demand coverage?

Now here is a different question - when I went to college (private university in CT) and grad school (public university in CA), I was covered by the universities' in-house medical centers.  I had doctor's appointments and even surgeries while at both schools - there were no forms, no copay, no insurance company, no nothing - my valid school ID was all I needed.

And when I went to law school (public university in VA), they didn't provide or care whether I had coverage - that was my problem.  They may have OFFERED it (I don't recall, because I was working full time and going to law school at night, and had perfectly good insurance thankyouverymuch), but it was not provided by the school nor mandated.

I am all for universal health care - but this goes too far.

Nanny State gone too far.

Yup..and i'm a raging liberal.  But to me, "liberal" means "leave me alone," on matters of PERSONAL decisions.

Hi all! I am one of the two friends that sue mentioned (the one with the high deductable).  There is an $80.00 per quarter program that you can subscribe to which allows your student access to the on campus facilities, but your insurance will be billed.  This is for minor boo boos, etc. 

We were enraged that our Anthem Blue Cross 80/20 PPO plan was not "adequate".   Our son was severely injured last year and ended up in a hospital for a surgery and a few days of R&R.  We KNOW how much money it can rack up to, but if we are able to pay our bills, why the hell is the State trying to shove something down our throats.    We did have to jump through hoops to get the waiver, including faxing them our daughters COMPLETE EOB (something like 12 pages) .  

And yes to answer your question Sue  it was in excess of $500 per quarter x 3 quarters..