Health Insurance

Premium: The amount you pay in order to have an insurance plan (i.e. the monthly or annual cost of your insurance)

Deductible: If you need medical care, a deductible is the amount you pay for care before the insurance company starts to pay its share of the medical costs

Co-Pay: A co-payment is a fixed amount you’ll pay for a medical service (doctor visit, emergency room visit, prescriptions) with the insurance company paying the remainder of the cost.

Co-Insurance: Co-insurance generally follows your deductible and is similar to a co-pay, except it’s a percentage of costs you pay rather than a fixed dollar amount. 

Source: http://thebenefitbrokers.com/Health_Insurance_101/

Metal tiers are a quick way to categorize plans based on the way costs are split between insurer and consumers. Roughly split, here is the breakdown:

• Bronze – 40% consumer / 60% insurer Silver – 30% consumer / 70% insurer Gold – 20% consumer / 80% insurer Platinum – 10% consumer / 90% insurer
• These percentages do not represent  how much you will actually pay, nor do they take premiums into account. They are simply a way of taking the deductible, coinsurance, and copayments into account in order to estimate about how much your out of pocket costs would be, based on expected average use of the plan.

Source: https://www.policygenius.com/health-insurance/learn/health-insurance-basics-and-guide/

Students who are U.S. citizens/permanent residents can apply for a full Medi-Cal plan.  You do not need to be a California resident. You are applying in a student status which allows for the full Medi-Cal coverage.

International students can apply for emergency/temporary health services through Medi-Cal.  Emergency/temporary health services cover students in the event of an illness, accident or injury but does not cover preventative healthcare. They can do this since they are here in an official student status.

It’s best if students review online what documents they need to have for their application process.  Also, it is very easy to reach someone with Medi-Cal to answer questions - we encourage you to do this if you have questions about the process. 

You can reach the Monterey County Department of Social Services (which handles new Medi-Cal applications for Monterey County) at 1-877-410-8823  Toll Free or via their website: Monterey Social Services Website.

Until you have a California address, you can use the Institute’s address to apply for insurance: 460 Pierce St. Monterey, CA 93940. Office Services will hold on to any mail you receive until you have a permanent address, after which you should change your address with your insurance provider promptly.

If your current insurance does not have in-network providers in the Monterey area, you can check to see what it would cost to see an out-of-network healthcare provider in case of emergencies.

You can also explore a temporary insurance plan to cover you for 30 days. Here is one site with guidance on the benefits and downfalls of short term plans, and a link to get a quote for one.

You will not submit proof of insurance to Middlebury at this time. Please do not send your insurance information to anyone at the Institute. You may be asked to show insurance at any point if prompted, however. We expect that students will take action to ensure they are covered in the event of a situation requiring medical care. For students health and well being, it is required to have insurance.

We do not require specific vaccinations but we do recommend that students have easy access to their vaccination history in case of an emergency.

J-1 Exchange Visitors (and J-2 dependents) are required to carry insurance for the duration of the program dates as listed on the DS-2019. The insurance must meet the following minimum requirements:

a. Medical benefits of at least $100,000 per accident or illness.

b. Deductible that does not exceed $500 per accident or illness.

c. Repatriation of remains in the amount of $25,000.

d. Medical evacuation to the Exchange Visitor’s home country in the amount of $50,000.

e. All exchange visitors any accompanying spouse and dependent(s) may be subject to the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) [22 CFR 62.14(a)].

Any insurance policy, plan, or contract secured to fill the above requirements must, at a minimum, be:

1. Underwritten by an insurance corporation having an A.M. Best rating of “A+” or above; a McGraw Hill Financial/Standard & Poor’s Claims-paying Ability rating of “A+” or above; a Weiss Research, Inc. rating of “B+” or above; a Fitch Ratings, Inc. rating of “A+” or above; a Moody’s Investor Services rating of “A3” or above; or such other rating as the Department of State may from time to time specify; or

2. Backed by the full faith and credit of the government of the exchange visitor’s home country; or

3. Part of a health benefits program offered on a group basis to employees or enrolled students by a designated sponsor; or

4. Offered through or underwritten by a federally qualified Health Maintenance Organization or eligible Competitive Medical Plan as determined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.