Understanding Health Care

Wellness Center
Understanding Health Care

Learning how to navigate health care in the U.S. is not only a daunting task for many St. Olaf students, health literacy is a national concern for many people of all ages.

In response, this page was made by St. Olaf students in order to provide students with the tools and support to help them tools to navigate health care with more confidence. By guiding our research based on student data along with staff and student interviews, this webpage covers a wide array of health care issues that students identify struggling with.

Health Insurance Term Glossary

Quickly find the definitions for any unknown term on your health insurance.

How to Read A Health Insurance Card

Your perfect cheat sheet to understanding some of the basic information and benefits your health insurance offers.

How to Find a Healthcare Provider

Finding a health care provider that fits your needs can take time to do. Here’s how to do it.

How to Make a Doctor’s Appointment

A step-by-step guide to making a doctor’s appointment once you have a provider/office in mind.

Should I Go To Urgent Care or the ER?

Can’t see your normal health care provider but you need health care quickly? Make sure you’re going to the right place.

Skills to Learn

Understanding Preventative Care

Most medical care that college students get is preventative. Learn more about why preventative care is important during your college years.

How to Interact With Your Health Care Provider

Prepare ahead by learning how to advocate for yourself during a medical appointment.

Understanding Prescription Labels

Knowing how to read your prescriptions can help ensure a speedy recovery or better management of chronic ailments.

Understanding Eye Glasses Prescriptions

Sometimes your eyes just don’t work. Figure out what’s wrong by understanding the terms on your eye prescription.

Financial Concerns

How to Read A Summary of Benefits

The summary of benefits (also called a plan summary), gives you a basic outline of what your insurance plan covers financially.

In-Network vs. Out of Network Providers

Using health providers that work with your insurance, or in-network, saves more money compared to out-of-network providers.

Ways to Reduce Costs of Health Care

Short-term and long-term methods to reduce the cost of your medical bills over the course of your lifetime.

What to Do When You Have Trouble Paying A Medical Bill?

Medical bills are stressful, but paying it upfront is never your only option.

FAQS

All students attending St. Olaf are required to have health insurance to help cover medical costs during their time on the Hill. However, many students have trouble understanding health insurance. Here are some common questions that St. Olaf students have regarding health insurance.

If you are looking for a health insurance plan to cover St. Olaf’s health insurance requirement, learn more about the specific health insurance plans that St. Olaf offers for students, or MNsure, Minnesota’s health insurance marketplace that offers low-cost health insurance to many students.

Health Insurance is a way to protect yourself against large medical costs due to illness or accidents. In the United States, there is no single-payer healthcare system, so Americans rely on a combination of public and private health insurers for coverage. The majority of people in the US are covered under plans provided by employers, or under public programs such as Medicaid.

In the United States, people who are under 26 years of age can stay on their parents’ insurance policies. This means that the majority of domestic students can remain on their parent’s health insurance plans throughout college.

Here are some common terms used on health insurance plans:

Deductible – the amount you pay before your insurance “kicks in” and starts paying for things
Copayment – A fixed amount ($20, for example) you pay for a covered health care service after you’ve paid your deductible
Out of pocket limit – the maximum amount that you will pay for any medical service through your insurance
Premium – The amount you pay for your health insurance every month. For St. Olaf plans, the premium is usually charged only once or twice a year.
Referral – one more “general” doctor usually recommends that you see a specialist
- Example: your therapist recommends (refers) you see a specific psychiatrist so you can be prescribed medications for depression.

For more help with understanding health insurance language, check out the Health Insurance Term Glossary, which is an easy-to-navigate website that has clear, understandable definitions for the majority of health insurance terms.

In order to find out what’s covered by your health insurance, you will need to check your plan. For most cases, your summary of benefits can provide you with most of the information about what’s covered or not covered with your plan. However, this is a shortened summary of your plan and often doesn’t address finer details of what is covered, so if you have a specific health care need that you want to check and see if it’s covered or not, check your full plan.

Most health insurance plan doesn’t cover dental or eye care, but it is good to get routine check-ups in both areas. This is because the health of both your teeth and your eyes can impact the rest of your body and can heavily influence the quality of your life.

If you are looking to get dental or eye care, separate insurance plans are available to cover dental and eye care. Once you have dental or eye insurance, the majority of preventative care for both will be covered by your insurance plan.