Word-of-mouth guide for Grad Student Insurance

This page was updated on September 27th, 2024. But, it is up to you to call and confirm that a provider takes your insurance - this page may not be accurate in some cases, and simply reflects what past graduate students have found worked for them.

Find in-network providers by going to anthem-find-care. If that doesn’t yield promising results, as it seems the anthem directory is not always up-to-date, read below for what grad students have used in the past.

Medical Insurance

Wardenburg is the safest option when you are unsure where to get medical care on our insurance. But of course, the hours are limited, so below are some places where grad students have gotten urgent care covered by our insurance:

Urgent care providers

· AFC Urgent Care Baseline

Specialists

· Orthopedic Hand & Extremity Specialist - Dr. Dominik Rog at Boulder Medical Center

Notes about Wardenburg perks

While you’re a grad student, you may as well take advantage of some of the easy-to-access and cheap care from Wardenburg. Below is a list of things that are relatively cheap to do on our insurance that may not be cheap on other standard US health insurance options:

· Allergy shots · Physical therapy · Pelvic floor therapy (call physical therapy office) · Massage · Bloodwork - labs done on campus, pricing is dependent on whether or not you have a Doctor calling in the order (does not need to be a doctor at Wardenburg) · Annual OB/GYN Visit (free with insurance) · X-rays (for small injuries such as broken hands/wrists)

Dental Insurance

See graduate dental insurance page for the grad school’s information on our dental insurance. When in doubt, call the provider to confirm they accept your insurance. Getting quotes on large procedures is always a good idea, but remember to ask about any fees associated with consultations.

Providers that accept our insurance

· Perfect Teeth (Boulder)
· Fox Creek Dental (Longmont)
· Sunshine Dental (Boulder)
· Arapahoe Dental (Boulder)
· Boulder Dental Center (Boulder)
   o Some people in the CS grad student slack have had issues with this provider: poor care, questionable/unethical billing issues, questionable methods to solicit reviews (if I recall correctly they give you a free Waterpik for a review. They don’t specify that it has to be a good review, but you have to show the receptionist a picture of the review to get the Waterpik, so there is social pressure for the review not to be bad.)
   o Bad reviews for specific dentists:
      § Danny Abboud - “rushed through the appointment, didn’t seem to listen to me or explain things well, and had poor bedside manner”
      § Danny Abboud and Dr. Tran - “two fillings one with Danny Abboud and one with Dr. Tran and both of them were bad and had to get replacements. They lied about second refilling being free and slapped me with a bill later.”
   o Good reviews for specific dentists:
      § Eric Dale (periodontist) - “I have had two successful surgeries with him and have nothing to complain about”

Vision Insurance

As far as I know, we are still limited to College Optical (?).

Providers that accept our insurance

· College Optical (Boulder)

Travel insurance

Anthem has reasonable travel insurance available via GeoBlue

Dependents

We cannot add dependents to our insurance. There has been budding discussion about a campaign for adding dependents to grad worker insurance in the United Campus Workers Union, and the UCW dental insurance campaign seemed to have worked, so it is possible this could be changed in the future.