The International Schools Review Forum

I was just wondering if school health insurance policies normally cover dependents? I haven't been able to find a clear answer to this anywhere. Specifically, can a trailing spouse expect to be covered by a policy or not? Or is it all over the board? Wondering if this should be a negotiation point.

[quote="alia"]I was just wondering if school health insurance policies school health insurance policies normally cover dependents? I haven't been able to find a clear answer to this anywhere. Specifically, can a trailing spouse expect to be covered by a policy or not? Or is it all over the board? Wondering if this should be a negotiation point.[/quote]

Basically, yes. It is all over the board and should be a negotiable point.

Dependents (inluding spouses) should be able to be covered by the school's insurance. The question would be who is paying for it. I well risk an overgeneralization and say that a good school will reasonably offer to cover flights, insurance etc for at least one dependent and often two, if they are willing to hire a teacher with two dependents. One should not really be an issue.

For example, my wife's school (considered a good to very good school), routinely covers flights and housing for two dependents but only insurance for the employee and one dependent. The teacher has the option of paying extra for the 2nd dependent.

From my experience the school pays insurance coverage for all, including my university aged kids.

My experiences are mixed, as Ive worked in asia and europe. In asia, schools pay for the employee (and maybe the spouse), and offer to add other dependents at their cost. In europe things are different. Everyone is often covered by the excellent national health care plan, with the employee covered by a separate world wide (global).

In my experience, spouses and minor children are generally covered. There are limits which are different to each school.
Mysharona's report is the first time I've heard of uni-aged children being covered. Schools typically stop covering when kids graduate high school, turn 18, or stop living with you.

A solid school will cover yourself and at least one dependent, usually two. My last school covered up to two dependents and the school I am headed to this August is one of the schools that offers to pay for university attending dependents in addition to spouses. I didn't know this existed, but it does! I actually turned down an early offer from another school because of this very issue. If they wont budge, look elsewhere, especially if you can be choosy.

Thanks so much for the information. It's exactly what I needed to know.

The school at which my husband and I will be teaching this coming year covers all dependents up to age 26. It's part of their package. Make sure you get everything in writing.

This is all very good information. I work at an IB school in China and they only pay for me. They give zero allowance for dependents or spouses. In the contract the language is very specific; it states "The teacher...." for everything. I'm here with my non-teaching spouse and they give her nothing - we even have to pay for the taxi rides to and from immigration to get her visa sorted.