Deals with Optional Practical Training Insurance Protection
For many international students, their first brush with the U.S. healthcare system comes in the form of the optional practical training insurance, commonly called OPT insurance. In the United States, an international student is allowed a particular period of time, usually 12 months, to hone the skills learned in college. Insurance for the student on F-1 visa during this period is called OPT insurance.
OPT insurance works like a typical short-term health insurance plan, and you can use it to get coverage for you and your dependent during the temporary OPT period. It is mainly used for unplanned medical issues.
As an international student, you might have been covered under the school-sponsored plan thus far. However, remember that plans that schools offer for a student under OPT are usually more expensive than your regular student insurance plans. OPT insurance offers you coverage for this period, which is usually a year.
You are however, not required by law to have insurance when under OPT period (yet), and the choice of whether to purchase insurance is entirely up to you. However, remember the high costs of U.S. healthcare, and remember that one accident or medical incident can scar your life forever.
Your OPT insurance offers usual short-term insurance benefits. Some of the medical benefits include physician consultation, hospitalization, ambulance services, prescription drugs, diagnostics, and emergency medical evacuation. Most plans also provide AD&D and repatriation of mortal remains benefits.
Being a short-term insurance plan, OPT health insurance typically excludes maternity benefits and routine eye and dental exams. Most OPT insurance plans also exclude pre-existing conditions; however, it is possible to find plans with look-back periods as short as one year.
There are a wide range of options to choose from for Optional practical training insurance. Maximum benefits ranging from $25,000 to $1 million, deductibles which affect the premium payable, and plan durations lasting anywhere between five days and one year, are all choices available to the OPT insurance plan applicant.
When making choices regarding OPT insurance, you might want to consider your future plan after completion of your OPT. You can purchase monthly coverage, which may make sense if you are planning to look for permanent employment in the United States. You can also purchase coverage for a year, if you are certain to return to your home country after the OPT.
Dan Miller often writes about OPT health insurance