How to keep health insurnace for a struggling college student

She struggled through fall semester with the minimum full-time load at a four year college. With several incompletes, she finally ended up with a D average. At the recommendation of the school she took off spring semester but took a full-time load in the summer. She did better (a C average). She has also had non-stop physical complaints (some physical, some psychosomatic). She decided to return home and go to community college. Three months of FT school in the summer plus four months in the fall should maintain her status as a FT student for the year. (per my reading of IRS regulations). However, school started on Monday and she is falling apart. At this point, I don't think she can handle a full-time load - I'm hoping for half-time. I understand your reasons for wanting to keep her as a full-time student, but are you sure that school is the best idea for her right now, emotionally? Many students aren't ready to be in college without your daughter's history of problems. And, while she hasn't worked in a long time, there are jobs out there with major food/retail companies (I'm thinking Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, and restaurants owned by the Outback corporation) that give health insurance to employees who average twenty working hours a week. I've also known people for whom this type of employment was much more manageable and healthy than being in school was. And I don't get the feeling, through anything you've written, that she wants to be in school. It might be something worth talking to her about.

Hi, anon. I sent an e-mail your way.

From a legal viewpoint, if she is registered with the Disabled Students Program and is taking a reduced course load based on disability, she should "count" as a full-time student. BUT -- insurance companies often operate in their own wild wild west. Perhaps call the DSP and ask if they've had that situation? Maybe they can see if another parent would talk to you?

Seconding PhoBWanKenobi. In my case, school turned out to be the cause of my depression.

Have you considered helping your daughter to apply for Social Security disability? It's a long and tedious process but can guarantee some degree of protection. And the SSA does allow people who are disabled to work (some), so a part-time job or part-time course load might not be out of the question.

Finding a part-time employer that offers health insurance meeting Anon's daughter's needs sounds like a long shot to me, especially in this economy -- I'm not guessing the mental health benefits at Barnes and Noble or Starbucks are going to be very impressive. It also seems unwise to make her health insurance dependent on her stable employment given that that doesn't sound like a sure thing. Anon, where do you live? Different states regulate health insurance in vastly different ways. Capability of "self-sustaining employment" may be a legal status defined more by, say, the opinion of a social worker than by the insurance company. Find your state's Department of Insurance and investigate there. Most are likely to offer insurance consumers a lot of expert help negotiating problems such as the one you're facing (see http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-consumers/, for example). Good luck.

Finding a part-time employer that offers health insurance meeting Anon's daughter's needs sounds like a long shot to me, especially in this economy -- I'm not guessing the mental health benefits at Barnes and Noble or Starbucks are going to be very impressive. While you're right that these jobs are in high demand these days, it's precisely because their benefits packages are really decent. You (and OP) shouldn't assume that just because a corporation is retail or food related, that their benefits package wouldn't offer its employees decent benefits packages.

There is an unsavory method you could use involving a local community college.

You say the local school offers no student health insurance. Perhaps there's another community college in your area that might offer student insurance. I know that the university-offered student plan here (through Aetna, not a community college) covers students on leaves of absence, which sounds like it would be pretty useful for your daughter. Since it's group health insurance, there ought not to be exclusions for pre-existing conditions, and most student health plans have mental health coverage for obvious reasons. Plus you have the school's health services office as an additional point of leverage if you get into a fight with the insurance company later. Really sounds like it would be your best bet if such a thing is offered anywhere near you. Good luck to you aned your daughter! PhoBWanKenobi: As I understand it, a lot of retail employers have fairly long waiting periods before part-time employees are eligible for benefits. It doesn't sound like it would do much good for her to have to work for 12+ months before she was covered.