Important Summer 2022 Health Insurance Information for Physics Graduate Students

Dear Physics Grad Students:

At the risk of stating the obvious, while it's never a good time go without health insurance, during a pandemic is a particularly bad time to be without insurance. So, I urge all of you to make sure you're covered by health insurance this summer. You can get summer health insurance in one of two ways:

(1) Register for at least 3 credit hours of Phys 597 (or some other summer course) during the summer. Registration for 3 credit hours or more of classes this summer will automatically trigger health insurance coverage for you. You will get assessed some fees if you register, but the fees are minimal this summer: You will be charged about $119 for health insurance (87% of the total $916 health insurance fee will be reimbursed by the university as a consequence of the GEO contract: see page 54 of the Grad Student Handbook: https://grad.illinois.edu/sites/grad.illinois.edu/files/pdfs/handbook.pdf).

(2) If you don't plan to register this summer for some reason -- and students are not required to register over the summer -- then you need to purchase supplemental health insurance coverage for the summer by completing the application you can find here: https://app.grad.illinois.edu/healthins/. Again, this supplemental coverage will cost you $119 for the summer, as you'll be reimbursed 87% of the total amount ($916) by the university. You can read more about this option via this link: https://grad.illinois.edu/fellowship/healthins (scroll down to the section on Assistants Who Do Not Plan To Register for Summer 2022). You can request supplemental insurance over the summer via the following link: https://app.grad.illinois.edu/healthins/ 

(3) If you won't have a waiver-generating appointment for some reason this summer (e.g., you're on an internship), you will still be automatically covered by health insurance -- along with the reimbursement -- as long as you register this summer. This summer health insurance waiver policy has been extended by the Grad College this summer because of the ongoing pandemic.  You can read more about this policy in a previous blog post: https://physics.illinois.edu/academics/graduates/blog/46857

But one way or another, please, please make sure you're covered by health insurance this summer!

Stay safe, be well, and have a great summer!

Best, Lance