Health Insurance for Student Families
Grad-student mother gives a friendly finger puppet show on campus during a student-parent advocay event.
UCSD health insurance resources for student families
Health insurance for you as a student
As a student, you have access to the University of California's Student Health Insurance Plan (UCSHIP).
Note: UCSD automatically enrolls all registered students into the SHIP. If you are already covered by another insurance plan and wish to opt out of the SHIP and have the SHIP fee waived, you must apply for a Health Fee Waiver through TritonLink. A new waiver must be submitted for each academic year. Visit the Student Health website for full details.
UCSD health insurance for your eligible dependents
The UCSHIP offers voluntary coverage for eligible dependents of students who are enrolled in the plan. Please refer to the Student Health Services website at http://studenthealth.ucsd.edu/Ushipdependents.shtml for undergraduates, or http://studenthealth.ucsd.edu/Gshipdependents.shtml for graduate students, for more information including coverage and enrollment periods, how to enroll, and covered benefits.
California health insurance and nutrition resources
Many student-parents at UCSD take advantage of the Calfornia State health insurance and nutrition assistance programs in order to meet their family's health insurance and nutrition needs. Depending on your level of income, Medi-Cal or Healthy Families may be a good option for you if the UCSHIP Voluntary Coverage for Dependents does not work for your family. For questions related to providing UCSD documentation during your health insurance application process, e-mail studentparents@ucsd.edu.
The program descriptions below are quoted directly from each individual agency. This information is provided as a supplemental resource for student-parents. Please refer direclty to each agency for program details, application procedures and program eligiblity.
- "Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program. This is a public health insurance program which provides needed health care services for low-income individuals including families with children, seniors, persons with disabilities, foster care, pregnant women, and low income people with specific diseases such as tuberculosis, breast cancer or HIV/AIDS. Medi-Cal is financed equally by the State and federal government."
- "Healthy Families is low cost insurance for children and teens. It provides health, dental and vision coverage to children who do not have insurance and do not qualify for free Medi-Cal."
- "Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC) is a federally-funded health and nutrition program for women, infants, and children. WIC helps families by providing checks for buying healthy supplemental foods from WIC-authorized vendors, nutrition education, and help finding healthcare and other community services."