For a lot of college students the very last thing they think about is health insurance as is shown in some recently released statistics which show that nearly one-third of all college students have no form of health insurance coverage. Going to college is a costly business and simply finding the money you need and sorting out your college loans is hard enough, but you must also consider including some form of health insurance alongside everything else which you will need.



Naturally you should start by looking at your parents' health insurance plan if this applies because it is possible that it will cover you while you are at university. However, you do want to read the plan details very carefully because some plans will provide cover for whilst you are studying at college while others will not. Two items that you need to look for especially are age and location.

Most health insurance plans will cover children up to the age of 18 or 21 while you are at home and a number of plans will extend this age limit providing you are in full-time education. Many plans are however limited to providing cover within a certain geographic area and so, although you might meet the age requirements of the plan, you might discover that you will not be covered when you are studying away from home.

When your parents' plan will not give you the health cover you need then you will have to organize your own student health insurance and will have to look for appropriate providers. Luckily, this is not too hard and there are numerous insurers who provide plans specifically designed for university students. So, where do you start your search?

Initially you should look at your own university because colleges will often arrange for their own students to get cover at a discounted rate. This does not necessarily mean that this is the best plan to meet your own needs and you should study the details to see it meets your needs. Even so your own college is an excellent place to start your search and will frequently provide you with the best deal. One other thing to consider when looking at your own university is just what medical facilities are provided on campus. The majority of the bigger colleges will have excellent medical facilities which are open day and night, while a lot of the smaller colleges will have far more limited facilities.

Apart from the university itself you can look to the insurance companies as well as a number of publicly funded organizations for health cover. And do not overlook the fact that there are a variety of different types of plan which are aimed at different student groups. Short-term health insurance for instance might be attractive to many graduate students and can normally be extended following graduation to cover you until you obtain employment and become covered by an employer's health plan. In addition, there are supplemental plans which will provide cover for you for such things as pre-existing conditions which are usually excluded from standard student cover.

Today health insurance is a complex area and you will have to shop around in order to to find a plan which both meets your needs and also your budget. Nevertheless, this is one thing which you should certainly not overlook because attending college is an expensive enough business in the first place and you do not want to risk your money or your future simply because you are unable to cover the cost of injury or illness.