Insurance for Nursing Students in TN

Published

Hello everyone. I am born/raised in west TN and am currently in the middle of my BSN program right now. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for insurance providers that I could talk with while I am a student. My wife and I are both college students, she will graduate in the fall with a teaching degree and I still have 2 years left of my BSN.

I haven't had health insurance in probably 8-9 years (I'm 23) and I would really like to go see a cardiologist regarding chronic heart problems that run in my family and could possibly be starting to develop in myself. I tried to get it checked out when I was in the military, but they push you off to the side and couldn't ever even get them to check it out. There are no records of any problems with me so a known previous medical problem wouldn't be grounds for them to deny coverage. I've pushed it off for a while because I don't want to get dxed without insurance, but I would like to see someone soon.

As we are both students I have a very limited income of minimum wage and my wife will be unable to work during the fall due to student teaching starting up. Just wondering if anyone knows of a reasonably affordable health care plan that we could enroll in--both of us are non smokers, no children. Never know what could happen with either of us. Thanks for all your input.

You might could try getting on TennCare. I don't know really anything about it, but you might qualify. It's worth looking into.

Good Luck!

I actually tried to get my wife and I on that, but we don't qualify. You can only get it if you are pregnant or elderly basically. Thanks for the input though.

Have you checked with you school yet? I know the CC I went to, and now the University I am going to both offered cheap health insurance to their students- or if they have a student health clinic, you can usually go there for free.

I was about to suggest TennCare as well, but she beat me to it.

Have you looked in to private insurance such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield or Cigna?

Even though we both work at the university during the summer, we are not eligible to go to student health unless we are currently taking classes that turn. So basically only fall and summer are we eligible to go there. They won't really do anything more for you than give you ibuprofen or vaccinations though. They generally tell you to go somewhere else.

University offers some types of health insurance, but no maternity (which would be important for me and my wife), and usually a high deductible with a 20% copay.

Thank you though.

I haven't looked into BlueCross or Cigna, I will try to look into them, thank you everyone.

I haven't looked into BlueCross or Cigna, I will try to look into them, thank you everyone.

I only suggested them because I have a choice between them and a few more on my job. I am BCBS, with Cigna dental.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield is accepted all over Tennessee. It might be pricey, but I believe it to be a fairly decent insurance provider.

Specializes in ICU, Med-Surg, Post-op, Same-Day Surgery.

Have you considered going to a county or city clinic? Often these are based on a sliding-scale for payment (based on income), and they usually provide basic care as well as more in depth care for chronic conditions. I know that most counties in TN have a women's health/family planning clinic that will at least provide free birth control (for the wife) and gynecological visits. It's worth looking into!

If you had some sort of pre-existing condition you probably could qualify for Access TN. You may qualify for the other plan, Cover Tn. Here is the link so you can check out the different plans available.

http://www.covertn.gov/

+ Join the Discussion