Student Health Insurance Plan

The Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) is the insurance plan that UC Davis offers its students. It comes in a couple flavors: GSHIP for Graduate Students and USHIP for Undergraduate Students. The main difference seems to be that the grad students pay more for it, but are more likely to have dependents covered by the insurance.

Many of the services are handled on Campus at the Student Health and Wellness Center, though it also allows for referrals to other doctors. These are handled through a Blue Cross of California PPO plan. It pays:

80% of in-network professional services (50% out-of-network)
90% of in-network hospital services (50% out-of-network)
100% of covered expenses after you have incurred $3000 in out-of-pocket costs for in-network covered services ($5000 for out-of-network services)

Since the University mandates that all undergraduate students have health insurance, many students just consider it another student fee. However, if you have health insurance through your parents or elsewhere, you can fill out a waiver to get your fees reduced.

SHIP also includes dental insurance, through Delta Dental. The annual maximum benefit is $750 annually. Basic services are usually covered 100%, and usually 90% for fillings. They do not cover crowns. Most dentists in Davis accept this insurance, if you want to know for sure just call the office to find out.

GSHIP will cover the cost of the HPV vaccine as of October, 2010.

Comments:

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As someone who's never had "real" health insurance (my parents are self employed) this seems pretty cool. They co-pay drugs and paid for half of my glasses. I think it's great, but somone coming from Kaiser or a different health insurance company may have a different oppinion - ArlenAbraham

2006-03-06 13:23:27 Insurance is great...try asking the 40 million Americans living without and suffering as a result. USHIP has its ups and downs. Frankly, I bristle at the fact that they don't also advocate low-income students to sign up for Medi-cal...they foist it on all students, regardless of economic background and capability to pay. WRONG. They should allow Medi-cal as an option. Funny, with their less-than-forgiving out-of-network charges, I'm going to be out $300. That's $229 for the insurance for 3 months, and $300 on top of that. Shitty, i say, shitty small networks do that. —QuynhNhuNguyen

2006-03-13 18:11:50 Note that unless you get your prescriptions filled on campus at the Student Health Center, you're going to be paying the full cash price of the drug. The health center's website has a form you can download to submit an rx claim, but they'll only reimburse you 50%, whereas at the Health Center you'd pay a $10 generic / $30 brand copay (as of Summer 05). —AshleyRummel

2007-03-15 17:02:05 I think it's annoying that I have to file a waiver every year. As long as I'm in school and my parents are employed, I'll be covered by their policy. There needs to be a permanent waiver for this. —WilliamLewis

2010-10-12 15:13:07 I thought I would share that GSHIP covers the cost of the HPV vaccine for the 2010-2011 school year, which is is pretty much AWESOME. —ChristyMarsden

2011-10-29 20:38:51 I need help finding a good dentist in Davis that accepts USHIP Delta plan. I have to get my wisdom teeth removed and need a cavity filled. I don't know how the dental plan works but I can't wait till Monday to go to the health center and ask them... please help —lenajay

2011-11-14 22:27:48 I've had better health insurance all of my life, and I can't accept the myth that the SHIP is something exceptional. It's health insurance that allows you to be treated on campus very reasonably, but if you seek better, more specialized treatment off of campus, it's going to cost you a bit more. My advice is for those students who are still covered by their parents plans to stay on them as long as you can. —LeTigre

2011-12-12 17:47:54 Dental has changed recently (mid 2011), at least on Delta Dental's side due to a controversial change in it's fee's for their PPO network all but 2 dentists in Davis have dropped. The majority are still part of Delta Premier, but expect to pay a little more - office visit is not 100%, most procedures are 40-60% covered. http://www.dentalheroes.com/delta-dental-changing-policies/ —AlexMandel