Get Help Applying to the Health Fund
Annual health funds (also called “support funds”) were won in our contract with Columbia and give student workers and their dependents’ access to reimbursements for medical expenses, including copays, dental/vision premiums, therapy, and more. To ensure that students receive reimbursements for medical expenses more than once per academic year, we have divided the health fund applications into two “rounds.”
If these links are not live, it means we are not currently accepting applications.
Instructions for Submitting an Application
Please read these instructions carefully. You may need to set aside considerable time to prepare your application. Please know that we ask you to do this so that volunteer student workers do not need to take as long to review the applications and money can be reimbursed more quickly. We appreciate your thoughtful care of these instructions.
STEP 1: FIGURE OUT WHICH OF YOUR MEDICAL EXPENSES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE FUND
Eligible medical expenses include most out-of-pocket expenses that you paid for a medical service.
Expenses must meet the following criteria to be considered eligible for the health fund:
Your medical expenses come to a total of at least $60 (because of processing fees). This doesn’t apply to individual expenses, just the combined total.
Your expenses are eligible to be paid on a tax-free basis according to the IRS (see Publication 502 for a list of eligible medical expenses).
The expenses were not reimbursed previously, either by someone else, or in a previous round of SWC Health Fund. You also do not intend to seek reimbursement of these expenses from elsewhere (note that a reimbursement from elsewhere would render that expense to no longer be tax deductible, and thus violate condition 2).
The expenses fall into the eligibility period. For this round, the eligibility period is from 6/1/24-11/30/24. Note that it is not necessary for your treatment/provider visit to fall into the eligibility window if the billing date is within the eligibility window.
They have been processed by your insurance provider.
It is a vision expense on the IRS list that you incurred while you were covered by a vision insurance plan. If you did not have vision insurance coverage when the expense was incurred, i.e. the date of service, it is not eligible for the fund. This was a condition stipulated by Columbia.
It is a dental expense on the IRS list that you incurred while you were covered by a dental insurance plan. If you did not have dental insurance coverage when the expense was incurred, i.e. the date of service, it is not eligible for the fund.
NOTE: There is an exception to this, which is if you saw Columbia Dentists as part of the benefits included in the Columbia Student Health Insurance Plan. If this is your situation, please include a note explaining this in the relevant line on the spreadsheet you submit.
It is medically necessary. Most cosmetic and elective procedures that are not covered by insurance will not be eligible for the fund. Please be proactive and include a letter of medical necessity with your application if you are applying for reimbursement for an expense in this category, and note that we can only cover dental or vision expenses in this category if they are both medically necessary and you held dental or vision insurance at the time of the expense.
It is another type of health-related expense that is eligible to be paid on a tax-free basis according to the IRS. This might include an insurance premium charge or a non-prescription medical supply (such as crutches). This category is unique in that we do not need to see evidence that the expense was processed by insurance.
STEP 2: MAKE A LIST OF YOUR ELIGIBLE EXPENSES USING THE SPREADSHEET WE HAVE PROVIDED AND UPLOAD TO THE GOOGLE FORM.
The spreadsheet will allow us to verify the eligibility of your expenses quickly and easily. NOTE: Please combine your out of pocket charges for identical repeat expenses, such as regular visits to a physical therapist or therapy appointments.
We are asking for the following details associated with each expense (these details correspond with columns on the spreadsheet you are filling out). This data will allow us to process your reimbursement check much more quickly. Please delete the sample lines in your version of the spreadsheet!
Unique identifier for the expense or combined expenses. We are asking people to use their PID number to generate identifiers for each line in the spreadsheet. This is a unique number that only you and the University have access to. This will ensure your application remains anonymous when it is shared with the redaction team.
You can find your student ID on the back of your ID card or at ssol.columbia.edu >> Academic Profile >> System Student Identifiers. E.g. C003519496.
For dependent applications, please include “DEP-” before your PID in the unique identifiers, e.g. DEP-C003519496.
By “combined expenses” we mean repeated instances of identical medical visits. For example, if you see the same physical therapist for regular weekly appointments you could combine the total you spent out of pocket for these expenses in one line on the spreadsheet. However, if you received several bills for expenses related to a single medical event, like a surgery, including a charge for the hospital visit, consultation and follow up appointments, x-rays, anesthesia, etc., please list them on separate lines. Use your judgment here.
Brief description of the service, including the physician's name, if applicable.
Amount you paid out-of-pocket in USD for the service after it was processed by insurance.
If you received the service in a country other than the US and you were billed in a currency other than USD, you must compute the exchange rate using the exchange rate on the day of the service or bill. You can find the exchange rates online, such as at this website: https://markets.businessinsider.com/currency-converter If you have further questions about currency conversion or exchange rates, you may email the Healthcare Working Group swchealthfund@gmail.com.
Type of expense - medical, dental, vision, or other.
Medical: An out of pocket expense for a medical office visit (including psychiatry/psychotherapy/physical therapy visits), a hospital visit,or an emergency room visit.
Dental: An out of pocket expense for a routine cleaning or dental procedure.
Vision:An out of pocket expense for a vision-related expense, such as a vision exam or eyeglasses.
Other: Includes out-of-pocket costs for insurance premiums, medical supplies, and prescription costs.
Was this expense incurred during the eligibility period?
"Incurred" means the date of your medical appointment or the date you were billed for a medical service.
If insurance took a long time to process your reimbursement but the original date of service is not in the eligibility period, you may list the date you received your explanation of benefits determination.
Did you hold the corresponding insurance type (medical, dental, or vision) at the time the expense was incurred? If this is a dental or vision expense and you did not hold dental or vision insurance when the expense was incurred, you cannot submit it to the health fund.
Was the expense in-network (covered by insurance) or out-of-network? If the expense was out of network, you must still submit it as a claim through insurance (there are a few exceptions to this, including the cost of insurance premiums and medical supplies on the list of eligible expenses). You may still submit it to the health fund, but only after submitting it to insurance first.
Is this expense on the list of eligible expenses according to the IRS?
You can see a list of eligible expenses at www.irs.gov (Publications 969 and 502).
If it is not on the list of eligible expenses, you must upload a letter of medical necessity along with your documentation. Your doctor can provide you with one. If you are unsure, please email us at swchealthfund@gmail.com to inquire about the eligibility of the service.
Have you submitted this expense (or expenses) through insurance? You should submit almost all medical expenses through insurance, even out of network medical care. See the application form for instructions on how to submit an expense through insurance. There are limited exceptions: insurance premiums and basic medical supplies that are on the eligible IRS list. If you do select NO, you must explain why the expense was not submitted through insurance in the NOTES column (e.g. "expense was yearly dental insurance premium").
Indicate your primary form of documentation here. See below, “Step 3: Gather the necessary documentation for each expense” for details about each of these types of documentation.
MEDICAL-EOB
Provider bill
Record of prescription claims (see below, Step 3, for an easy way to download these all together - you combine the costs and list the spreadsheet as a single line item if that is easier for you!)
Premium Receipt
Receipt for eligible medical expenses
Other - please explain in NOTES and understand that we may contact you about this if it is not an acceptable alternative form of documentation.
If you have included additional forms of documentation for this expense, please describe them in the spreadsheet.
Is there a letter of medical necessity for this expense? This is only necessary for expenses not on the approved list, such as items otherwise considered cosmetic or elective, e.g. botox received as migraine treatment.
NOTES: Is there anything else we need to know about this expense?
STEP 3: GATHER THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION FOR EACH EXPENSE.
Please group related expenses together in a single PDF.
Types of documentation we will accept:
An Explanation of Benefits (EOB) document for the relevant expense.
Sometimes, after the EOB is issued the provider makes an adjustment to the final cost to the patient. Be sure to double check whether the “amount you may owe” corresponds with the final amount you were billed by your provider. If these amounts are not equal, please make a note of this in your application and clarify the final amount you paid by providing either a receipt/credit card charge for the final amount or a bill indicating the final amount you are being charged by your provider. If you have Aetna insurance, the EOBs can be found at www.health.aetna.com/eob.
Prescription records
This can be a detailed receipt from your pharmacy that includes your insurance details.
Alternatively, you can download a spreadsheet of all your prescriptions for the eligibility window through Aetna. Download all your pharmacy claims as a .csv file (go to “Claims” then filter by “pharmacy” and “past 365 days,” “Download Claims).” Then edit this downloaded spreadsheet to include only the prescriptions you purchased between January 1, 2023 and May 31 2023, and save as a PDF.
If the expense was from an in-network provider, we can accept a bill from your provider that includes
A description of the medical service provided, a date that falls in the eligible window (as of the last update: 6/1/24-11/30/24)
The final amount that you paid to the provider (if you have not yet paid the bill, we need documentation of the final amount you owe to your provider), and
Evidence that the charge(s) were processed through your insurance.
If the expense was from an out-of-network provider, we need documentation of the final amount you owed after the expense was processed by your insurance provider. You can provide this documentation through a combination of provider bill, EOB, and/or copies of reimbursement check(s).
Examples of documentation we cannot accept:
An 300 page explanation of benefits summary for all the medical services and prescriptions you have received over the past year. If you submit this to us as your form of documentation, we will ask you to resubmit single EOBs for each expense or group of expenses you are submitting for reimbursement. These are much easier for us to process.
A receipt from CVS without a description of the covered medical expense you purchased.
A receipt from Warby Parker without evidence that you hold vision insurance.
A bill from your doctor that only includes the amount you paid and the name of the provider.
STEP 4: COMPILE AND LABEL YOUR DOCUMENTATION AS PDFs AND UPLOAD TO THE GOOGLE FORM.
Please group together documentation for repeated or related expenses to minimize how many uploads you are attaching to your application.
EXAMPLES: (1) if you make weekly visits to a single provider, include documentation of all visits in a single PDF (2) if you had knee surgery, include all the expenses related to the surgery in a single PDF (this could be labeled PID_1-5 if you listed expenses related to surgery on multiple lines of the spreadsheet).
STEP 5: CREATE A REDACTED COPY OF ALL DOCUMENTATION AND UPLOAD TO THE GOOGLE FORM
Our allocation team needs copies of your documentation without any identifying personal details (name, date of birth, address social security number). You can do this digitally (detailed instructions here) or manually, by printing out your documents and using black marker or physical barriers (like post-its) to cover up sensitive data. Then scan redacted versions of documents using a photocopier or a scanning app on your phone and upload these versions of documents to your computer.
Please label these redacted files using the same file names as the original documentation with _REDACTED added to the end.
NOTE on “Superbills”
For repeat visits to a single provider (e.g. regular physical therapy appointments over a 3 month period), you can attach a "superbill" or a single piece of documentation of your total out of pocket expenses for that provider between December 2023 and May 2024. However, the superbill must include documentation that the charges were processed by insurance. If it is an out of network provider and you submitted claims to insurance yourself, you must also include the EOBs resulting from the claims you submitted.
EXAMPLE: Misty sees a therapist every week for her generalized anxiety disorder. This therapist is out of network, so insurance does not automatically cover some portion of the cost. Instead, Holland pays out of pocket each week and then each month she submits a claim to insurance. She has not yet met her deductible, so insurance hasn’t yet reimbursed her for any of these out of pocket charges. Bummer! To be eligible for the health fund, she has to attach the superbill that her therapist sent her for December - May AND the EOBs for December, January, February, March, April, and May, which demonstrate that Aetna isn’t reimbursing any of the amount that she paid out of pocket.