Visiting Scholar Health

International visiting scholars in any visa status are eligible to purchase health insurance on a daily basis through MSU.

International scholars in J-1 visa status are required to maintain health insurance that complies with both federal visa regulations and MSU’s J-1 program requirements. All qualifying health insurance plans must be acquired through MSU. No privately purchased health insurance plans are accepted by MSU’s J-1 Visa Program.

Visiting scholars may self-fund their insurance, have department-paid health insurance, or qualify for employee benefits.

Select the “Scholars” tab on the OISS webpage for U.S. Health Care and Insurance to learn more about insurance requirements.

The following information applies to international visiting scholars who are not eligible for employee benefits. If you are not sure if you are eligible for employee benefits, please ask your host department for clarification.

While most international visiting scholars use the J-1 visa status, the plan is open to any individual meeting the following criteria:

  • Not a U.S. Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident
  • Has a current appointment or affiliation with an academic unit on campus
  • Not eligible for MSU employee benefits

All international visiting scholars who are in J-1 visa status sponsored by Michigan State University and are NOT eligible for MSU employee benefits are required to be enrolled in coverage through Aetna Student Health per MSU's J-1 Exchange Visitor Program requirements.

  • The coverage start date for MSU J-1 scholars must be either the date of arrival in the U.S. or the J-1 program start date — whichever is later.
  • The coverage end date for MSU J-1 scholars must be either the date of departure from the U.S. or the J-1 program end date — whichever is earlier.

Visiting Scholars - Visiting Scholar Paid Health Insurance (Self Paid)

Visiting scholars who do not meet the criteria to enroll in benefits offered to MSU employees must enroll in the MSU Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP). Scholars may be required to enroll and pay for themselves.

Registering an account with Academic HealthPlans (AHP)

Visiting Scholars responsible for their own health coverage cost will follow this process to create an account:

  1. Navigate to: https://msu.myahpcare.com/
  2. Click “Begin enrollment”
  3. Scroll down and click “student and graduate assistants”
  4. Click the button titled “Click here to enroll”
  5. Enter MSU email address
    1. If you will not receive an MSU email address during your visit, you will have the ability to register with a personal email.
  6. Click “Create one now” under "Forgot your password?" to create an account
  7. Follow the prompts to fill in personal information
    1. Student Category will be “Visiting Scholars Self Enroll (Daily)” or "Visiting Scholars Self Enroll (Coverage Periods)"
  8. Finish creating account

Completing health insurance enrollment

The scholar will follow this process to purchase the plan:

  1. Login to your AHP account at https://msu.myahpcare.com/
  2. Click “Access my Account”
  3. Complete the login prompts
  4. Click the box “I want to Enroll”
  5. Accept the terms and conditions then click “Confirm”
  6. Click “Annual Medical”
  7. Cover “Yourself” - a light blue line will appear around the box of "Yourself" to indicate you have selected to cover yourself.
    1. Add new dependent record by clicking the “New dependent” box if needed. Complete dependent’s personal information.
  8. Enter date range of coverage
  9. Attach scholar appointment letter or I94 as documentation for your visit.
  10. Click “Confirm”
    1. The coverage will be reviewed by AHP. Once the submission has been approved, the scholar will receive an email confirming they may log in to AHP to pay.

Once the coverage has been reviewed, the scholar will receive an email.

  1. The scholar may receive an email with an approved submission. At this time, the scholar will log in to their AHP account and complete payment.
  2. The scholar may receive an email requesting a correction. They will log in to their AHP account to make the needed corrections.                                     

Student Category and Corresponding Coverage periods

Visiting Scholars may register their AHP account as one of the following:

Visiting Scholar Self Enroll (Daily) - this allows a visiting scholar to select flexible dates that align with their visit. The daily rate will be used to calculate the health coverage cost during the enrolled dates.

Visiting Scholar Self Enroll (Coverage Periods) - this allows a visiting scholar to enroll in set coverage periods that MSU students are offered. This option works best for visiting scholars with longer term stays aligned with MSU's academic calendar.

Rates

Visiting Scholars - Department Paid Health Insurance

Visiting scholars may obtain health coverage paid by their departments. Departments will complete a Department Paid Visiting Scholar Form and follow the instructions for submission.

Department Paid Visiting Scholar Forms

Calculate the date range and cost

To calculate your insurance date range and total cost, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Time and Date Calculator
  2. Select the “Count Days” option.
  3. Check the box labeled “Include end date in calculation.”
  4. Enter your coverage start date and end date
  5. The tool will display the total number of days.
  6. Multiply the number of days by the daily insurance rate to calculate the total cost.

Authorized signer

Page 3 of the form must be signed and dated by an authorized signer of the department. An authorized signer is a person in a department with authority to request and approve the payment of insurance for a scholar.

Submitting or correcting an Internal Billing document

The office of finance at MSU offers the following Internal Billing Instruction Guide.

Rates

In some situations, a department may purchase health insurance for their visiting scholar, but the scholar is responsible for purchasing coverage for their dependents. If this is the case, reach out to the Solutions Center at SolutionsCenter@hr.msu.edu so that the benefits team can assist with opening the correct enrollment option.

Visiting Scholars - Benefits Eligible

Visiting scholars who are employed by MSU and have an appointment of 50% time or more for a period of 9 months or longer are eligible to participate in MSU’s employee benefits. However, to remain in compliance with visa requirements, enrollment in the CDHP plan is not permitted. Please carefully review the information below.

Benefits Overview

As a benefits-eligible visiting scholar, you will have 30 days from your start date to enroll in benefits via the EBS Portal.

Please note that, due to visa guidelines, visiting scholars are not eligible for the Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP). A high-level overview of available Health benefits is provided below; However, we strongly encourage you to carefully review the full benefit information, which can be found here.

Available Plans: 

  • Blue Care Network (HMO)
  • Community Blue PPO 
  • Cigna Global Health Advantage (CGHA)
  • BlueCard Out-of-State

You may also find additional information at Toolkits for New Employees.