Insurance

As an international student or research scholar, you are required to purchase health insurance and maintain it while you are in the United States. Unlike many countries whose governments bear the expense of health care for its citizens (and sometimes even for visitors), individuals and families in the United States must pay for their own health care costs. Since a single day of hospitalization and medical treatment can cost thousands of dollars, nearly all Americans rely on medical insurance to make sure that they can receive quality and timely medical care without bankrupting themselves.

When you purchase health insurance coverage, the money you pay (called a premium) is put into an account with others' premiums to form a pool of money. That money is then used to pay the medical bills of those participants who need health care. Your coverage remains valid only as long as you continue to pay your insurance premiums, or until the policy expires (if a specific date is mentioned). Once you purchase insurance, the company provides you with an insurance identification card as proof of your coverage when you are seeking health care from a physician or hospital. Co-payments are dollar amounts that the enrollee must pay toward certain services, such as office visits, mental health visits, and hospitalizations. The company will also provide written instructions for reporting and documenting medical expenses (known as filing a claim). The company will evaluate any claim that you file, and then make the appropriate payment for coverage under your particular policy. In most cases the company will pay the hospital or doctor directly, in other cases, the company will reimburse you after you have paid the bills. Also, most insurance policies require you to cover part of your health expenses yourself (your part is called the deductible) before the company is obligated to pay anything. Under some policies the deductible is annual, and you pay only once each year if you use the insurance; under other policies you must pay the deductible each time you have an illness or injury.

Insurance policies will place limits on how much they will pay for certain services, as well as how much they will pay for any single individual's expenses or for any specific illness or injury. Furthermore, they can limit how long they will pay for each illness or injury, and they can exclude coverage for certain conditions (for example, they can exclude any injury that occurs while engaged in certain kinds of work). Finally, insurance policies can specify certain physicians and hospitals that you may consult for treatment, which means that you must be treated only by those doctors or in those hospitals if you want your insurance to cover the cost. It is important for you to read over your insurance policy very carefully in order to understand the limitations of your insurance coverage, as well as the financial obligations you will be expected to make during the course of the policy year (co-payments and deductibles).

If you are an Emory student and you purchase the health insurance policy recommended by the university, your coverage will meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Government for international students in J1 status, as well as the more stringent requirements required of international students by Emory University. If you are a research scholar being paid by the university for longer than six months, you may be eligible to enroll in one of the Emory group insurance plans offered through the university's human resources division, either of which will meet the federal coverage requirements for J1 scholars. If you are enrolled as a student and purchase an insurance policy other than these just mentioned, you must verify that your coverage meets the minimum requirements set by Emory University via an online compliance procedure.

If you are a J1 scholar and are purchasing a policy other than those mentioned, you must make sure that it meets the level of coverage required by law in order to legally maintain your status in the U.S. We will be glad to answer any of your questions about these regulations or about health insurance in general.