I would think that the rates offered by the school are among the best you'll find, since the insurance companies probably bid for the contract. Can you take out a student loan to pay for it? Can your wife find a job here that will pay for her insurance?

As a fellow graduate student, I sympathize. I cannot even consider starting a family, as I am simply not in a financial position to do so. Best of luck.

Edit:

Addendum: You might consider tutoring the undergraduate students for extra income, if you aren't doing so already. The going rate is $20-30/hour. It's not much, but it might be enough to cover the insurance.

jr123 said:I would think that the rates offered by the school are among the best you'll find, since the insurance companies probably bid for the contract. Can you take out a student loan to pay for it? Can your wife find a job here that will pay for her insurance?

As a fellow graduate student, I sympathize. I cannot even consider starting a family, as I am simply not in a financial position to do so. Best of luck.

Edit:

Addendum: You might consider tutoring the undergraduate students for extra income, if you aren't doing so already. The going rate is $20-30/hour. It's not much, but it might be enough to cover the insurance.

International students can't work off campus. That extra $20-30/hr tutoring turns them into illegal immigrants.

lydiachang said:International students can't work off campus. That extra $20-30/hr tutoring turns them into illegal immigrants.

You're right, though it's apparently a bit more complicated than that. According to www.uscis.gov, he could argue economic hardship, although success is probably doubtful.

From USCIS, bolding added:
(C) Severe economic hardship. If other employment opportunities are not available or are otherwise insufficient, an eligible F-1 student may request off-campus employment work authorization based upon severe economic hardship caused by unforeseen circumstances beyond the student's control. These circumstances may include loss of financial aid or on-campus employment without fault on the part of the student, substantial fluctuations in the value of currency or exchange rate, inordinate increases in tuition and/or living costs, unexpected changes in the financial condition of the student's source of support, medicalbills, or other substantial and unexpected expenses.

It might at least be worth a trip to the school's international students office.

The visa issue does, however rule out my suggestion of the wife working. Guess I wasn't thinking.

Sorry if I misled anyone.

ekam48 said:TextI would think that the rates offered by the school are among the best you'll find, since the insurance companies probably bid for the contract

Sometimes cheap doesn't = good or even decent coverage at least when it comes to the plans offered by schools. I don't have a lot of experience with the plans offered to grad students but the ones I've seen/heard about down here in SoCal haven't been that great last time I checked.

Agreed. But he's not asking for good coverage, he's asking for cheap coverage. To the best of my knowledge, the two are incompatible.

IVYtony said:jr123 said:I would think that the rates offered by the school are among the best you'll find, since the insurance companies probably bid for the contract. Can you take out a student loan to pay for it? Can your wife find a job here that will pay for her insurance?

As a fellow graduate student, I sympathize. I cannot even consider starting a family, as I am simply not in a financial position to do so. Best of luck.

Edit:

Addendum: You might consider tutoring the undergraduate students for extra income, if you aren't doing so already. The going rate is $20-30/hour. It's not much, but it might be enough to cover the insurance.

Good suggestion though. I think it may be illegal to make money from tutoring undergrads. I 've been working as a research Assistant which pays $1500/month after tax. This amount of income is just barely enough for our living and insurance. We don't have much extra money. But some other int'l students I know do business on eBay and they make lots of extra money thru doing so. Is it also illegal to make money on eBay things?

thanks

(Obvious disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Speak to a lawyer before trying anything which may potentially be illegal.)

My suspicion is that if you are simply selling junk from around the house, then it should be legal, whereas if you are buying things explicitly for resale, then it becomes a business and therefore a violation of your visa. Again, though, that's just an educated guess.

IVYtony said:Hi to ya all: Since we are young and very healthy, I think we just need some basic insurance plans which should include the unplanned pregnancy insurance

Forget about the maternity coverage (will cause policyto skyrocket) and just use protection.

For the coverage, if you're young and healthy, look into a high deductable health plans. The premiiums are affordable, and while it does not cover routine medical expenses, it would protect you in the invent of some catastrophic disease, illness, or accident.

Give you some idea of the possibilities, goto goldenrule.com for examples.

I need some cheap insurance as well. I am in las Vegas and UNLV wants to charge me and my wife $4500 for the year. Yea right. So much for school insurance. Any advice for a student would be great...

At my school they charge ~$750 per semester for health insurance through the school. Although, just like you, I am very healthy and dont really need it (but the school requires that I either buy their insurance plan or have my own, in which case they will waive their insurance fee). I am currently paying $105 per month for a "Value Blue" plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield. With this plan the first $500 of anything is covered 100%, then you are on your own until you hit the $5,000 deductable. After that it is decent. So, it is pretty much a worst case scenero type insurance that will cover you if you get in a huge car accident or something and spend a month in the hospital. The plan at the school only covers students when school is in session (8 months of the year)... your school may be different. With my Blue Cross plan I am covered year around and it ends up costing about the same. I also found out that I can use the facilities on campus for free (free doctors appointments, etc) but if I have any x-rays, lab work (pee test, std test, etc), dental, vision, etc then I would have to pay for that. So there is really no point to buy the school's plan. All schools and plans are different though so YMMV. I dont know if this information will help you, but I hope it will. Health insurance is expensive... I wish I could find a cheaper plan too.

You have to remember that as an International student you are REQUIRED by the INS (or whatever it is called nowadays) to a very comprehensive insurance, so that you will not cost the taxpayer money in case of a problem.
The likelihood of finding an outside health care that meets the IONS requirement sis slim - I would stick with your school.