Story and Photo by Jueun Choi.

The StudentCare Plus Insurance Plan, the medical and travel insurance plan that provides many students across Education City with a range of benefits, will expire on July 31st this year, according to Patricia Collins, health and wellness counselor at Northwestern University in Qatar.

StudentCare is the primary student insurance plan for NU-Q, as well as other Education City universities, including VCUQatar, SFS-Q, UCL Qatar, and WCMC-Q. The plan provides access to a variety of medical, financial and travel benefits, including for pre-existing medical conditions.

 As of 2016, StudentCare Plus services are discontinued globally, not just in Qatar. “We no longer issue that plan type to either schools, agents or individuals, and I can confirm that it applies globally, so it’s not just a regional decision affecting Qatar schools,” said Jonathan Goodchild, an operations manager at StudentCare Insurance.

Health and wellness professionals across EC are working together to look for possible new insurance plans, though the universities may choose to go with different plans in the end. “We’re trying to find a plan that is comparable to StudentCare in terms of benefits that students get to receive,” Collins said. “What we’re finding is StudentCare had a really good price and that’s probably one of the reasons they’re dropping it. Everything else is two to three times more expensive than StudentCare insurance.”

 NU-Q is expected to decide on a new insurance plan by May of this year, according to Collins.

Despite the extensive range of benefits that StudentCare provides, not many students know about them, let alone utilize them.

“I only know that it’s our insurance company. Nothing else really,” said Alessandra ElChanti, a communication freshman at NU-Q. She is only one of many students who are unfamiliar with the benefits.

“There’s probably 10 percent of students who actually access the benefits provided by StudentCare,” Collins said regarding the number of students who file medical claims for reimbursement. She said that when health professionals provide information about insurance during orientation, students are too overwhelmed at the time from information overload.

“What I don’t get about students is that they take these cards for granted. They don’t know how precious free health insurance can be. In the States, for example, it is expensive to get health insurance. And if you don’t have health insurance and something happens, it is also very expensive,” said Anzish Mirza, a journalism sophomore and the department assistant of the student affairs team at NU-Q. When she distributed StudentCare insurance cards last semester, she said that she had to run after students; even then, she said the students would often lose the cards.

Awareness is key to fully utilizing benefits that students receive. So what does StudentCare cover? NU-Q’s website provides information about all the benefits, but here are a few of the highlights for anyone interested in making use of their insurance policy before it expires:

StudentCare Plus Insurance Plan pays for:

Medical expenses

• In and out of hospital medical services for doctors, pathology and x-rays
• Hospital shared ward accommodation, hospital day care services, and accident, emergency and outpatient services
• Full coverage of prescription medicines
• Covers full cost of ambulance or medical transport services
• Services provided by acupuncturist, osteopaths, chiropractors or homeopath
• Emergency dental services
• Maternity services
• Psychiatric care

Hospital cash

StudentCare provides a cash benefit of $35 for each complete 24-hour period when you stay hospitalized continuously for more than 72 hours. You must file medical expenses claims (Collins will assist you with this process).

Hijack cash benefit

When travelling abroad, if your mode of transportation is hijacked and you cannot reach your destination, StudentCare provides $70 for every 24 hours you are stuck.  

If you cannot begin or complete your pre-paid travel or accommodation arrangements or your pre-paid study or tuition arrangements because of unforeseen circumstances that are completely out of your control (see website for conditions), StudentCare pays for the non-refundable components up to a certain period of time. It also covers non-refundable education, tuition or study fees paid in advance to a certain degree.

For lost personal items, StudentCare pays for damage or theft of your personal belongings if it also results from a specific incident that is completely beyond your control, including for lost or stolen laptop computers and/or portable electronic property. 

Travel insurance

StudentCare provides emergency medical and dental treatment and medical evacuation. It also offers insurance for false arrests, delayed luggage, missed connections, loss of deposits and travel delay.

Repatriation of dead bodies

In case of death, StudentCare covers repatriation expenses including an air ambulance to return the body to the person’s country of origin. A “reasonable” cost of either burial or cremation in Qatar or the fee to repatriate the remaining ashes to a person’s home country is also covered.

Sources of information for benefits:NU-Q’s website “NUQPlanWording2014”