All IEI students are required to pay the Health Service Fee as part of their University Student Fees. The Health Service Fee gives students access to the services at McKinley Health Center and the Counseling Center on campus.

Health insurance is not required by the university for IEI students but is highly recommended. IEI students are not currently eligible to purchase the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s student health insurance.

The United States health care system may operate very differently in comparison to your home country, so please review this information carefully.

Healthcare in the United States

The U.S. health care system is a mix of public and private health care providers which includes hospitals, clinics, and various healthcare professionals. The U.S. does not have universal healthcare, which means that not everyone is automatically covered.

It is important that you have a general understanding of the U.S. health care system to decide what health insurance plan works the best for your needs.

Health care in the United States is generally very expensive. Without health insurance, a person is responsible for paying the full cost of their medical bills. Even a minor illness or non-
emergency hospital visit can have a very large bill.

In the United States, there are two types of health insurance: private insurance and public insurance.

• Public insurance comes from government programs and is only available for people who meet specific requirements, like being over 65 or having low-income. People who are in the U.S. for a short-term purpose (like F or J visas) are not eligible to apply for public insurance.
• Private insurance can be provided by an employer or purchased individually. This is the type of plan that international students with F or J visas will need to purchase. You may be able to find a company in your home country that will cover the cost of healthcare services in the US, or purchase health insurance at a company based in the United States.

How do you choose the best plan for you?

When you are looking for an insurance plan, these are the key items to think about when making your decision:

Premiums

Premiums are the amount of money you pay every month for your insurance plan. Generally, insurance policies that don’t cover as many medical procedures or cover lower percentages of your medical expenses have lower premiums. Insurance policies with higher premiums tend to cover more medical procedures or a higher percentage of your medical costs.

Deductible

A deductible is a fee that you have to pay for healthcare services before your health insurance starts to help. For example, if your deductible is $100 dollars and you receive a bill for $800 from your doctor, then you have to pay $100 dollars first before your health insurance helps with the rest of the bill. Many policies with lower premium costs have higher deductible costs.

Co-Insurance

This is the percentage of your healthcare costs that your health insurance helps pay for after you pay the deductible. For example, if your coinsurance is 20%, then you pay
20% of the costs and your insurance pays for 80% of the costs. So, if you have a bill for $800 from the hospital, here is an example of how much you would need to pay:

$800 – Deductible ($100) = $700
$700 X Coinsurance (.20) = $140

After your deductible is paid, your bill is $700. If you coinsurance is 20%, then your insurance pays for 80% of the bill and you pay for %20 of the bill.

Out-of-Pocket Maximum

This is the maximum amount of money you have to pay for healthcare services that are covered by your insurance in a year. If your out-of-pocket maximum is $4,000 dollars, then that means if you have many medical procedures that are covered by your health insurance, you will not have to pay for any of the costs after you reach this amount. The out-of-pocket maximum is different for every insurance policy.

Network Vs. Out-of-Network

Just like your cell phone plan will have a particular network it uses, hospitals and doctors work and have agreements with particular health insurance companies. Your health insurance company will provide you with the information about the doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers that are covered by their policy. These covered healthcare providers are in network. It is important to check this information, because your healthcare insurance might not cover medical treatment you receive from an out-of-network doctor or hospital.

Claim

A claim is a request for payment that you or your healthcare provider submits to your insurance company for healthcare services you received. In many cases, your doctor’s office will do this for you automatically. In some cases, you need to pay for your healthcare service in advance and then submit the receipt with your claim to your insurance company.

Sometimes students need to get immunizations or other shots while they are in the United States to fulfill the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s health immunization requirements. If your health insurance policy covers immunizations, you can receive these immunizations at McKinley Health Center and then submit the claim to your health insurance company.

Champaign-Urbana Area Healthcare Providers

There are several different healthcare providers in the Champaign-Urbana area. If you are considering purchasing a health insurance policy in your home country to use while studying in the United States, or purchasing from a U.S.-based company, it would be wise to check if services at the local hospitals are covered.

• Carle Foundation Hospital – Plans Accepted
• OSF Hospital – Plans Accepted
• Christie Clinic – Plans Accepted

For Health Insurance Plans, we recommend that you choose a plan that has the following minimum amounts of coverage:

• Minimum coverage of $500,000 per illness or injury per academic year.
• No less than an 80%/20% coinsurance benefit plan for inpatient, outpatient, surgical procedures, and mental health.
• Maximum out-of-pocket cost of $5,000 or less per year.

Here is a list of some of the health insurance companies that IEI students and others have purchased in the past. This list is not an endorsement or recommendation from the IEI of any of the following companies or insurance plans. This list is shared to help give some examples and places to compare while you research.

• Atlas America Insurance Vacation Study Insurance
• Patriot American Plus Travel Insurance
• Allstate Short Term Medical Insurance