International Student Health Insurance

All international students attending Hillsborough Community College on an F-1 visa have a mandatory health insurance requirement. Health insurance must be valid for a minimum period of one year. Proof of insurance is required for each year of enrollment.

When an international student is admitted to HCC, a HOLD is placed on their record to prevent registration. Students are only permitted to begin or continue enrollment at HCC by demonstrating that they have met HCC’s health insurance requirement.

To assist our international students in complying with the health insurance mandate, HCC offers a health insurance plan through Collegiate Risk Management (CRM). It is the only health insurance policy guaranteed to meet all insurance requirements per HCC policy. Due to the high cost of medical services in the U.S., Hillsborough Community College strongly recommends that international students purchase health insurance through CRM. 

To get information about policy coverage, costs, and to enroll online, visit CRM’s website at http://www.collegiaterisk.com/schools/hcc.aspx for more information.

If you have your own health insurance policy that is valid in the U.S. and you intend to keep it, you must provide proof that the coverage meets HCC's minimum health insurance coverage benefits:

• Coverage Period: Coverage must include the full year, including annual breaks, regardless of the student’s terms of enrollment. The policy must provide continuous coverage for the entire period the insured is enrolled as an eligible student. Payment of benefits must be renewable.
• Basic Benefits: Room, board, hospital services, physician fees, surgeon fees, ambulance, outpatient services, and outpatient customary fees must be paid at 80% or more of usual, customary, reasonable charge per accident or illness, after deductible is met, for in-network, and 70% or more of usual, customary, and reasonable charge for out-of-network providers per accident or illness. 
• Inpatient Mental Health Care: Must be paid at 80% in-network or 60% out-of-network of the usual and customary fees with a minimum 30-day cap per benefit period.
• Outpatient Mental Health Care: Must be paid at 80% in-network or 60% out-of-network of the usual and customary fees for a minimum of 30 (preferably 40) sessions per year.
• Maternity Benefits: Must be treated as any other temporary medical condition and paid at no less than 80% of usual and customary fees in-network or 60% out-of-network.
• Inpatient/Outpatient Prescription Medication: Must include coverage of $1,000 or more.
• Repatriation: $10,000 (coverage to return the student’s remains to his/her native country).
• Medical Evacuation: $25,000 (to permit the patient to be transported to his/her home country and to be accompanied by a provider or escort, if directed by the physician in charge).
• Exclusion for Pre-Existing Conditions: First six months of policy period, at most.
• Deductible: Maximum of $50 per occurrence if treatment or services are rendered at the Student Health Center; maximum of $100 per occurrence if treatment or services are rendered at an off-campus ambulatory care or hospital emergency department facility.
• Minimum coverage: $200,000 for covered injuries/illnesses per accident or illness, per policy year.

If you decide not to enroll in the health insurance plan recommended by HCC, you must submit a Student Health Insurance Waiver to CRM to prove that your own insurance policy provides comparable benefit levels. The waiver form is available on HCC’s International Student webpages at www.hccfl.edu/international, or at http://www.collegiaterisk.com/schools/hcc.aspx.

Fax or email the waiver form, a copy of your insurance card with expiration date and an explanation of your benefits (what is covered by your insurance plan) to the number or email address provided on the waiver form at least two weeks before your registration. If the benefits page is not in English or Spanish, it must be accompanied by a certified translation.

Remember:

Your own health insurance policy must be approved as meeting the minimum requirements before you can be cleared to register! If it does not comply with the requirements, you will NOT be cleared to register for classes until you provide documentation of insurance coverage which meets the HCC mandate. This may include purchasing HCC-approved health insurance through CRM.