Four Important Facts

• All UCLA Anderson students are required to have medical insurance.
• All registered students are automatically enrolled in GSHIP, charged to their tuition bill.
• If you have comparable insurance and you don't want to keep GSHIP as dual coverage, you must submit a request to waive enrollment by your campus' deadline.
• All students can use on-campus Student Health Services, whether they have GSHIP or not.

Health Insurance
Health insurance is mandatory for all UCLA students. As a condition of enrollment at UCLA, the Graduate Student Health Insurance Plan (GSHIP) is one of the included Registration Fees. The fee can be waived if you provide online information about a private, adequate health insurance which meets the University's criteria. Detailed information on the criteria for waiving SHIP can be found here.

The health coverage offered by UCLA to its students through GSHIP is the most convenient insurance. Current students recommend not wasting time looking for another plan from an external company. 

Please note that the student health insurance will only start 15 -20 days after you pay the tuition of the first quarter (late September, mid October). You should consider obtaining external insurance coverage for days before this time.

GSHIP includes several benefit packages:

• Medical benefits provided by Anthem Blue Cross Insurance Company. 
• Behavioral/mental health benefits provided by UCLA CAPS and UCLA Neuro-Psychiatric Behavioral Health Services (NPBHS) 
• Dental benefits provided by Delta Dental 
• Vision benefits provided by EyeMed Vision Care program
• 24/7 Nurseline (1-877-351-3457) - available for all registered UCLA students when the Ashe Center is closed
• ACE Travel Assistance - Available for emergency assistance services when students are more than 100 miles away from UCLA 

For detailed information on medical benefits, please visit the Arthur Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center Website. 

GSHIP Rates and Coverage Dates
The cost of the mandatory GSHIP plans will automatically be assessed as part of the Registration Fees each term. The annual cost is divided by the number of terms (three quarters). Spring coverage includes the summer period following that term.

Dependents (Significant Others, Children, etc.)
GSHIP Coverage is available for the dependents of insured students. GSHIP Dependents are enrolled in the Anthem Blue Cross Insurance Company PPO Plan. Enrollment in the GSHIP Dependent Plan is conducted directly through Wells Fargo Insurance Services (W.F.) at (800) 853-5899, which has been contracted by Anthem Blue Cross to provide the administrative services. Visit the Insurance section of the Ashe Center Website, www.studenthealth.ucla.edu, to view a description of the Dependent PPO Plan benefits. The Ashe Center website also contains additional resources for students no longer eligible for GSHIP and/or dependents of current students-click HERE to view the document.

External Coverage for Dependents
The International Business Association recommends looking into external companies for dependent health insurance. The best known are: Blue Cross, Blue Shield, and Health Net.

UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center (Ashe Center) and UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
UCLA offers complete health care services for its students through the the UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center (Ashe Center), and UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). These are supplemented by the campus Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) also known as GSHIP for UCLA Graduate Students.  

The Ashe Center and CAPS are funded by student Registration Fees and are available to all registered students. They are separate from any insurance plan. All registered students can use the Ashe Center and CAPS regardless of the type of health insurance coverage they have. Ashe and CAPS services are mostly covered by Registration Fees and students only pay an Ashe co-pay for visits, lab and x-rays, as well as fees for a few services such as pharmaceuticals and immunizations. If a student elects to purchase GSHIP, the visit, lab, and x-ray co-pays are paid for them by GSHIP. Both Ashe and CAPS have "same day" appointments enabling students to call the day they want to be seen or to walk-in for urgent situations. Advance appointments also are available. The clinical staff at Ashe and CAPS are highly qualified. At Ashe, they include board-certified physicians and licensed nurse practitioners. At CAPS, the staff consists of board-certified psychiatrists, licensed clinical psychologists, and social workers.

Students who have GSHIP should also use the Ashe Center for the majority of their healthcare needs including but not limited to: covered visits with Ashe Specialty consultants, health clearances, immunizations, labs, optometry, radiology, travel visits, and when filling pharmacy prescriptions.

Mental/Behavioral Health Program for Students
Treatment for mental health and chemical dependency problems for insured students can be obtained from the UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). CAPS, a service covered by Registration Fees, similar to the Ashe Center, serves as the primary provider of care for mental health conditions for insured students. This is where all treatment must be initiated, and where short-term outpatient therapy is conducted. For care beyond the scope of CAPS or for emergency care, CAPS will refer appropriate cases to the UCLA Behavioral Health Services.