What I Wish I’d Known About the Yale Health Plan

Hi. Sandra and I just spent a week on Cape Cod, and did very, very little in terms of BTFO. (In the next few weeks, when something goes horribly awry, I’m probably going to chalk it up to this lost week.) Coming back to reality has been a bit harsh (I also got back at 2:30am Saturday morning, so there was that), and I seem to have left my watch in Vacationland. One of the first things I did yesterday was pick up a prescription at the Yale Health Plan, and it occurred to me then, as it has several times in the past, that this is a blog-worthy thing.

That is the worst segue I’ve ever written. I apologize.

Anyway.

You’ve probably already made your decision about your health insurance. So I won’t dwell on this too much. Basically, by enrolling at Yale, you’re also enrolling in a “basic” health care program that will cover most routine doctor’s visits. You can also elect to pick up hospitalization, prescription, and other such things from Yale; or you can elect to find your own insurance. No matter what, you have access to a primary care physician and to mental health services. Even if you waive Yale's insurance, you can still visit Student Health for basic services.

Yale Health Services is located at 17 Hillhouse Ave (at Trumbull). It took me all year and Sandra to figure out that the parking lot attached to the building is for patient parking – don’t park at a meter! So long as there’s room in the lot, you can park there for free. They are in the process of building a new health center building (which will probably be just as ugly … what is it with Yale and “innovative” architecture?), but for now we’re stuck with 17 Hillhouse.

There’s a pharmacy on the first floor where you can charge your drug purchases to your bursar’s account, where it will either be added to your tuition bill or deducted from you financial aid refund. This is very helpful if you’re forgotten your wallet. If a tall woman with big hair calls you “honey,” you’ve met my favorite Yale Health employee. I think her name is Jacqueline, and that she is fabulous. (Last time I was there, she told me never to say "I'm sorry" but to say "I apologize," because otherwise people would start to think I'm a sorry person. The time before she told me we should go crash a wedding together.)

Mental Health and Counseling through Yale (formerly the “Mental Hygiene” department, which is a little laughable) is free and available to all students. Like a few other systems at Yale, they will wan to do an intake interview with you and then match you to a therapist. The catch is that this is an overloaded system and the time between intake interview and matching can stretch out as long as two months. There’s thus really something to be said for doing an intake interview before you really need to. Former generations of YDS students have gone as far as to recommend to incoming students that they do an intake interview during the first week of classes. I won’t go as far as that, but will say that it’s better to head to mental health when you’re at the “Gee, it’d be nice to chat with someone about this” stage rather than wait it out to the “OMGWTFBBQ!1!!!” or “@$#*@#!!!” stages. Go earlier rather than later.

One of the worse things about the Yale Health Plan is that it doesn’t include dental (boo). I had several cavities filled by Dr. Alan Friedler this summer and generally liked him. Dr. Friedler teaches at Yale (we don’t really have a dental school, but we do dental surgery and some summer programs in dentistry and it’s a mystery to me why I know this) and gives 15% off of routine services to Yale graduate students. (I was so shocked at the estimate for my dental work that they ended up giving me 15% off that too, even though that’s not standard operating procedure.) I’ve been lucky enough to have had pretty minimal experience with dentists, so I’m not really sure where Dr. Friedler falls price-wise, but I can say his office was almost absurdly modern and the doctor himself really cared a great deal about my experience and teeth.

If you end up incurring dental expenses, the Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) has a Dental Expense Fund you can apply for reimbursement through. You need to pay the dental expenses out of pocket, then fill a brief form to get up to $500 back. An insider has told me that requests last year far exceeded funding available, so most of the awards were really small, but the hope is that this will alert higher ups to the fact that the fund needs more money. (Oh look, the GPSS also has another list of dentists who give Yale grad student discounts. My guy gives the steepest, which makes me feel good.)

Other than the sudden attack of the cavities, I’ve had a good year health-wise, and can’t share much more information. Since I went to El Salvador and opted to get a couple of optional shots, the department I visited the most at Yale Health during the year was immunization. (Routine blood work turned up the fact that my first round of Hep B vaccination didn't take, so I'm re-doing that too.) Their nurses are pretty great, despite (or because?!?) the fact that their job is to stick people with needles all day long. Go figure.

- Kate