I'm a student spouse covered under the Chickering Plan at the University of Chicago. I was also covered under the Chickering Plan offered at the University of Michigan when I was a graduate student there. While both plans are appallingly bad, the coverage Chickering makes available to students at U of C is 100 times worse than the coverage at U of M.
My worst experience, by far, though has been breaking my foot while on the U of C plan. I broke my foot on a wet stair in graduate student housing. I went to the Student Care Clinic-- the soonest appointment I could get was three hours after the injury. The doctor at the care center (Rachel Amdur) was great though, I got sent for x-rays and she called me back ASAP after receiving my x-rays to get a cast. If that was it, it would have been fine. BUT I was referred to Dr. Toolan in orthopedics (who was rude and insulting). He insisted on having my cast removed the Tuesday after it was initially cast. He glanced at it briefly, said, essentially "yep, it's broken" and ordered another cast put on. My insurance was thus billed for two casts ($450 each, not including an $80 rubber/velcro "weight-bearing" shoe), two cast removals ($150 each) as well as a consultation with him at around $200)!!!!! On a subsequent visit I spoke only with residents working under him, but my insurance was still billed for a consultation with him.
All told, breaking my foot at U of C cost $5000, nearly $1000 of which I had to pay out of pocket, as Chickering covered only 80 percent. I work part-time. My husband is a grad student in Social Thought and TAs as a writing intern for one or two sections a semester. Needless to say, $1000 was more than we could afford. I'm not sure how I would change this if I were a hospital administrator, but I would look closely at how much the hospital bills for things like casts, cast removal and cast shoes. And I would question a doctor's insistence that a cast be taken off, just to be replaced after a brief
exam.
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I'm sorry if I repeat what everybody already said here.
But, I have to say this because I have the bill in my hand now.
I'm a Ph.D. student, and I have my wife and my 2-year-old baby under my coverage.
How much do I pay for the insurance per quarter?
$2520 per quarter! $552 for myself, and $984 each for them!
It's $7560 per year!!! and it's been increased and increased!!!
DOES THIS MAKE SENSE? $7560 for insurance from poor grad students???
I went today to ask that my husband be removed from my student health insurance mid-year, as he is starting a job with insurance. I was told by the rep on campus that I would need to provide documentation showing that my husband has a job before I could remove him from my plan! My husband is not (and never has been) a student at the University of Chicago, and therefore not required to prove that he has health insurance to the University. But she insists I needed to bring his job offer letter or email. I replied that was an invasion of my privacy, and she said "I'm sorry you feel that way," but that it was still required.
In some ways this is insult to injury, because I have had so many other problems with Chickering/Aetna (even though it is nothing compared to many of the horror stories I have heard). I have been fighting for TWO YEARS for reimbursement for a travel supply of medication that Aetna had no problem paying for while I was in Chicago. This is still not resolved, even though I was promised it would be by a Chickering rep (not the one on campus) over eight months ago.