From Providence Business News: Sending your child off to college is a major milestone, and it comes with its fair share of concerns. One worry that’s been added to the list is being there for a healthcare or other emergency when your child is away.
Picture this situation: Your child is away at college and gets into a car accident, ending up in the hospital, unconscious. It’s terrible to think about, but things could get even worse. We had a client last year who could not even find out which hospital their child was in so that they could be there or obtain updates on their medical condition.
With today’s adherence to strict HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ) laws, if your child – 18 years of age or older — faces an emergency at college, you might not know. Basically, when your child turns 18, you lose access to their medical care, even if the child is still on your health insurance plan.
It’s comforting to know that your child’s college probably has a plan for emergencies, and you would like to think the college is in charge of notifying you, but if a serious accident occurs off college grounds, it might be impossible to put all those pieces together.
There are three simple yet critical legal documents that we recommend and, as a mother of one college graduate and one current college student, I have implemented for my own daughters …
See the full guest article in Providence Business News here.