This webpage is a brief description of the Student Health Insurance Plan made available to students through Bates College. This plan has been developed especially for Bates College students. The plan provides benefits for covered accidents and sickness that occur on and off campus, on a world-wide basis, 24 hours per day, during the period for which premium has been paid.

Bates College requires that all full time students enrolled in 3 or more classes carry health insurance. Students must verify that they have other adequate insurance coverage of at least $100,000 in order to waive automatic enrollment in the Bates College Student Health Insurance Plan. If you currently have coverage, it is your responsibility to determine that it meets or exceeds the coverage available through Bates College’s Student Health Insurance Plan. Often a student covered by a parent\’s plan at home, has limited or no benefits while at College, other parts of the U.S. or in a foreign country. When reviewing your current medical insurance coverage, be sure it provides coverage to students who are over the age of 19, that it provides access to care in the State of Maine, and provides comprehensive coverage, extending beyond emergency care to include physician and hospital services. Students wishing to supplement their existing coverage by remaining in the Bates Plan may do so.

All students will automatically be enrolled in either the Bates College Student Health Insurance Plan or the International Insurance Plan. Students who wish to have the expense for this coverage removed from the College charges may do so by providing other insurance information online through the “Garnet Gateway”. See the section titled “Online Student Waiver Process” for directions on waiving the insurance plan. The deadline to waive coverage is September 30, 2008. For those students beginning in the Winter Term, the deadline to waive coverage is January 31, 2009. Students who complete the waiver by September 30, 2008 do not need to complete the waiver again for January. No waivers will be accepted after the deadline.