All graduate students are considered student members of Yale’s health plan.
- Students are automatically enrolled in Yale Health Basic Coverage at no charge and do NOT need do anything else for individual coverage. This coverage includes primary care.
- Students also are automatically enrolled in Yale Health Hospitalization/Specialty Care Coverage. PhD students do not have to pay for this coverage, but it can be waived by the deadline if desired.
- Proof of alternate coverage will have to be provided if waiving this additional coverage.
- Waivers for the full year or the fall term must be submitted annually by September 15, and by January 31 for those enrolling during the spring term.
- If you waive YHP coverage you may change your mind and revoke your waiver by submitting a revoke waiver form before September 15 or January 31 deadlines. Your coverage will then begin and be retroactive to the beginning of the term. If you miss these deadlines you must wait until the next term in which you are eligible.
Full details on each of these plans (including dates of coverage, services included and waiver deadlines) may be found in the student handbook (pdf) or online.
Free mental health counseling is also available and eligible dependents may be enrolled in any of the plans for which you are eligible. Dental and eye coverage can be purchased, but are not required.
Students can have other coverage, either by being a dependent on someone else’s plan (parents’ or spouses’ or domestic partners’) or by purchasing other coverage on their own. YHP specialty services can still be used in this scenario, but the other insurance will be billed for them as well as for any services obtained outside YHP (even if you are referred by a YHP clinician).
If you lose your non-YHP hospitalization insurance coverage, you must either revoke your waiver and enroll in a YHP plan or select another hospitalization insurance carrier. If you choose to enroll in the YHP plan you must do so within 30 days of the loss of other coverage. YHP’s coverage begins the day following the other plan’s termination date. Premiums are not prorated, and you must pay for the full-term cost of the YHP plan.