The Harvard University Student Health Plan consists of two parts:

Part I: The Student Health Fee (SHF) covers most services provided at Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) and includes a prescription drug benefit. Primary Care Providers are available at clinics on each Harvard campus for routine health care. Urgent care is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at HUHS in Holyoke Center.

Part II: The Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO (BCBS) Plan of Massachusetts is designed to complement the health care provided under the SHF at the HUHS. This plan covers medically necessary hospitalization, emergency care, and some services and procedures not available through HUHS.

Some institutions offer plans through their student health center with complementary options through a standard national carrier such as Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS). Harvard’s plan is fairly typical of such approaches, requiring that all students, unless already insured, pay a Student Health Fee that covers most services provided at Harvard University Health Services for routine health care and includes a prescription drug benefit. Harvard then offers an optional complementary plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts that covers “medically necessary hospitalization, emergency care, and some services and procedures not available through Harvard University Health Services.” The student health fee cost is $713 per term; the BCBS optional “complementary plan” cost is $681 per term. Thus the combined rate for these plans in 2008 was $1,394 per term. Harvard University also offers optional coverage for spouses and children of students. This “dependent” coverage is only available when students purchase the BCBS complementary plan and the 2008 costs were $1,751 for spouses per term and $909 for children, with a $457 per term fee for a second child, with no additional charges for additional children. The costs for the 2008–09 academic year increased slightly for the complementary plan and dependents.