JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY
2025-2026 Student Health Insurance Plan
ANNUAL WAIVER FORM
Students with health insurance comparable to the university’s health insurance may submit a waiver form by the deadline to opt-out. To be considered comparable, your plan must be filed and approved in the U.S. and must be compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and provide comprehensive benefits including non-emergency benefits in the geographical area surrounding the school.
Generally, only U.S. employer sponsored plans, U.S. health insurance marketplace plans, or embassy sponsored plans are considered comparable. Plans that do not meet the above requirement include short-term medical plans, healthcare sharing plans, insurance plans from foreign healthcare systems, travel plans, and plans marketed to international students only. Examples of plans marketed to international students that do not meet the requirement include GBG Insurance, HDL Global Specialty, ISO, Tigerless, PGH (United), PSI, Student Medicover, and Tata AIG.
Not all U.S. health plans provide national or comparable coverage, and many out-of-state HMO, EPO, and Medicaid plans will not provide comprehensive non-emergency benefits in the geographical area surrounding the school.
- Students covered by out-of-state HMO or EPO plans should contact their insurance company and apply for an away-from-home rider. Most insurance companies offer these riders for students studying away from home. If you attend the Providence campus and have an HMO or EPO plan from a state other than Massachusetts or Connecticut or if you attend the Charlotte campus and have an HMO or EPO plan from a state other than South Carolina and do not have an away-from-home rider extending your coverage to Rhode Island (for those attending the Providence campus) or North Carolina (for those attending the Charlotte campus), you cannot waive.
- Students attending the Providence campus insured by Massachusetts or Connecticut Medicaid or students attending the Charlotte campus insured by South Carolina Medicaid should be aware that most Medicaid plans do not provide comprehensive non-emergency services outside of the home state. Students can waive with these out-of-state plans but are responsible for finding and/or traveling to providers in their network.
- Students attending the Providence campus insured by Medicaid from states other than Massachusetts or Connecticut and students attending the Charlotte campus insured by Medicaid from a state other than South Carolina cannot waive with their out-of-state Medicaid.
- Students insured by Medicaid from Rhode Island or North Carolina should ensure they have access to providers near the campus.
If your plan does not meet the requirements, you will be notified that your waiver form has not been accepted. If it is determined that your plan does not meet the university’s requirements, you will be responsible for the insurance premium and enrolled in the Student Health Insurance Plan upon registering for classes and meeting the SHIP eligibility requirements.
To continue the waiver process, please fill out the required fields below:
Please note, your JWU student ID# begins with “J” followed by 8 digits.
