CGU Health Insurance, Summer Therapy

While you're driving yourself mad with dissertating, it's also important to take care of yourself.

This post covers two bits of information that might be useful to you: CGU Health Insurance and local therapists who take CGU insurance.

CGU Health Insurance


If you don't have health insurance, you might consider buying insurance through CGU, which offers plan for all students (including international students).

Rates for Fall 2009 are:

	Fall	Spring/Summer only**	Summer only
	(8/07 to 1/08)	(1/09 to 8/27)	5/17 to 8/27)
Students, 25 and under*	$422	$812	$314
Students, 26 and over*	$558	$1076	$414
Spouses, of students 25 and under/26 and over	$994/$1317	$1923/$2551	$734/$972
Child(ren)	$692	$1336	$512

Source: CGU Student Affairs


The insurance doesn't cover vision or dental, but does give you some peace of mind that if something really bad happens next year, you've got some coverage. It does cover some mental health (see below).

The plan is run through Renaissance Agencies. (although not incredibly generous, I have found the plan to be decent and easy to use. They cover most medications and it is easy to save receipts and send them in with claim forms for reimbursement, which comes quickly. -Tara)

Brochure
FAQ
2008-2009 Claim Forms


Health Care and Therapy Over the Summer


As we all know, grad students apparently aren't allowed to get sick or depressed over the summer...Student Health and Monsour Counseling are both closed all summer!

Short of holding out all summer to see a doctor in the fall (which some students do), you have a few options, including Central Avenue Urgent Care in Montclair, Planned Parenthood in Upland, or Pomona Valley Hospital.

But what about therapy over the summer?

There are lots of therapists in town (mostly clustered on First Street in the village) but cost can be prohibitive.

There are a few therapists who take the CGU insurance (usually charging a nominal fee, co-pay, or something on a sliding scale). A brief referral list from Monsour lists:

Valerie Jordan, Ph.D. (909) 625-7443
Kirby Palmer, MFT (909) 621-9023
Rick Rogers, Ph.D. (909) 621-9023
Kari Halko-Weekes, Ph.D. (909) 624-1997
Joanna Bendiner Horrowitz, MFT (909) 625-5506

You can easily do a google search for local therapists. When you call, ask if they are taking new patients, if they take the insurance you have, or if they do not, what their policies are for charging students. Many are willing to work with you to charge a fee you can afford.

If you are struggling to cope or feeling depressed or hopeless, please reach out to the people around you - family, friends, fellow dissertators in the workshop. Therapy is really expensive, but its important to get help if you need it. And there's no shame in it - it takes a strong person to know when to ask for help.

Take care of yourselves this summer!

(perhaps we need a post on the best therapy of all: massage therapy! Mmm.... If you have any local massage spots to recommend, please add them in the comments.)

Yes, this is a stained glass window of Mulder and Scully of the X-Files.
Why? The question is...why not?