Full-time students at Carnegie Mellon's Pittsburgh and New York campus locations, and enrolled within certain Silicon Valley programs, must carry medical insurance that meets the university's requirements of coverage. The intent of this policy is to insure that students have access to health care and are protected from significant financial loss in the event of a serious illness or injury.

The university contracts excellent and affordable student medical insurance, and each year full-time students under the mandate are default charged for the lowest premium plan contracted by the university. There is a monthly payment option available.

This default insurance premium charge is posted to the student's HUB invoice account in his or her first semester of attendance each academic year.  The fee charge represents the insurance premium for coverage beginning that semester (August 1 for Fall, Jan 1 for Spring, and May 1 for Summer), and continuing through July 31 of that academic year.

Each semester has an associated open enrollment period for new students just arriving on campus, and those new students must finalize their insurance decisions prior to the end of their open enrollment period (see Enrolling, Waiving or Cancelling below for open enrollment deadlines).

These full-time students must enroll in the university's contracted student medical insurance plans, or request a refund of the premium by completing a medical insurance waiver form on which they verify that their alternative insurance meets the university's mandated requirements. If a student takes no action, then his or her insurance enrollment information is sent to the insurance company shortly after the open enrollment deadline, and the student is formally enrolled into the student medical insurance plan.

Note that while any full-time student on the campus locations under the mandate will be default charged, other eligible students may voluntarily enroll within their insurance open-enrollment period.

Instructions and forms for enrolling, waiving, or cancelling the student medical insurance plan can be found here.

	Enhanced	Standard
2011-2012	Group #: 12804-14 benefit grid	Group #: 12804-24 benefit grid
2012-2013	Group #: 12805-15 benefit grid	Group #: 12805-25 benefit grid
	2012-2013 brochure

To get an estimate of your health care costs, do the following:

• Create your Highmark website account. Visit www.highmarkbcbs.com, and select the MEMBERS tab. In the red LOG IN box, click on REGISTER NOW. Follow the steps to create your account. You need your Highmark medical id number in order to set up this account.
• Login to your Highmark website account, and select the "your spending" tab. On the left hand side you'll see "typical medical cost." Follow the directions to enter appropriate info regarding the fee you wish to estimate.

The insurance plans offered through Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield involve networks of providers. Physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers in the networks have contracted to provide specific medical care at negotiated prices.

You should ALWAYS confirm that your provider is in the network. Otherwise, a lower percentage of your benefits are paid. Make sure that your particular doctor, at the specific location you will be seen, is in the network. Some doctors are not in the network at all of their offices.

You need to make sure all non-emergency visits or tests of any kind are provided by doctors and facilities in the network to make sure you get the highest level of benefit.
Searching for a provider

Visit Highmark's online national provider search engine to locate network doctors and facilities within the United States.
Visit Highmark's online worldwide search engine to locate international network doctors and facilities.

Use the Advanced Search option, and then specify the Highmark Product PPOBlue in step 3 to make sure you find doctors in the appropriate network.

Highmark offers students a variety of wellness programs. View this flier for an overview of the web-based, phone-based, and commuity-based programs.

You can always contact the Student Insurance office when you have insurance questions.

However, sometimes you may have questions for Highmark directly.

Highmark's website: www.bcbs.com

If you are enrolled in one of the student insurance plans, use these numbers:

• 1-800-472-1506   within the US
• 412-544-7000       outside of the US.

If you have not yet formally enrolled in the student insurance plans, you can use one of these two numbers to ask benefits questions of Highmark prior to enrollment. These are both for use within the United States:

• Enhanced plan questions: 1-800-215-7865. Use reference code P0110509
• Standard plan questions: 1-800-215-7865. Use reference code P0100509