Reed College
Reed College

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Comparable Coverage

Reed College requires that all degree seeking undergraduate students have medical insurance coverage comparable to that offered through the school’s comprehensive Student Health Insurance Plan.

Learn More About Reed's Health Insurance

One of the waiver criteria is that your student’s insurance must provide for medically necessary care in Portland.  
It’s important to know exactly what your health plan covers, and what’s excluded. If you don’t know the answers to the following questions, we encourage you to ask them specifically to your insurance company. If your health insurance won’t cover these services for your student, you cannot waive the college’s student health insurance plan.
Ask your health insurance provider the following questions (complete list of criteria as a PDF):

  1. Does my insurance plan allow access for my student to a broad variety of medical and mental health services in Portland? Or does my plan restrict coverage to only emergency care?

  2. If there are restrictions on what provider my student can access, where will my student have to go for off-campus care? This is especially important to explore if you have HMO (health maintenance organization) coverage. Must your student use preferred providers, or participating providers? It is important to consider how accessible the providers or facilities are to the campus. How long will it take to get to the office?   

  3. Does my insurance cover diagnostic laboratory work and diagnostic imaging ( i.e. X-ray or CT scan) performed in Portland?

  4. Does my insurance cover hospitalizations in Portland?

  5. Does my coverage provide for specialty care (e.g., orthopedics, cardiology, etc.) in Portland?

  6. If you are an international student or are a domestic student studying abroad, your insurance must cover medical evacuation and repatriation expenses.

 So to recap, private insurance coverage is considered comparable to the school’s if:
  1. Your plan provides access to health care providers in the Portland area for emergency and non-emergency conditions.
    1. Note: Plans that provide benefits only for emergency and/or urgent care do not satisfy this criteria. Likewise, if you have an HMO and the Portland area is out of network, your coverage doesn’t meet this criteria. If your HMO offers guest privileges in the Portland area, you can potentially meet this criteria by obtaining guest privileges. You must contact your insurer to receive guest privileges prior to waiving coverage.
  2. The plan covers inpatient and outpatient mental health care within the Portland, Oregon area.(Emergency only coverage does not satisfy this requirement.)
  3. The plan is currently active and you agree to maintain health insurance coverage throughout the entire academic year.