Student Insurance Requirement

California College of the Arts is committed to ensuring all students have the appropriate resources to uphold their physical health and wellness.

Per CCA policy, all students who are registered for courses at full-time status (12 or more units per term for undergraduate students; 9 or more units per term for graduate students) are automatically charged for and enrolled in the CCA student insurance plan unless they submit an approved insurance waiver that meets all of CCA's minimum requirements, by the established deadline​ - which is typically aligned with the end of the Add/Drop period.​

For additional information - including exceptions for part-time students & students on an approved leave of absence (for medical reasons) - please refer to Student Insurance Requirement & Eligibility Policy.

Waiver Dates and Deadlines

Waiver applications must be completed and submitted online by 11:59pm on the last date the waiver site is live.

The online waiver site will be live as follows:

2023-2024:

• Fall 2023: June 22, 2023 to September 12, 2023.
• Spring/Summer 2024: November 30, 2023 to January 29, 2024.
• Summer 2024 (MFA Comics program): May 2, 2024 to June 28, 2024.

2024-2025:

• Fall 2024: June 20, 2024 to September 12, 2024.
• Spring/Summer 2025: November 28, 2024 to January 29, 2025.
• Summer 2025 (MFA Comics program): June 1, 2025 to June 26, 2025.

Waiver Requirements

Please read and pay close attention to all emails and notices pertaining to the online insurance waiver.

In order to waive the CCA student insurance plan, your personal health insurance plan must be active (as of the date when the CCA plan's coverage begins) and meet the following minimum coverage requirements:

• Be owned, headquartered, operated, and filed in the United States;
• Be in compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA Compliant);
• Provide emergency care within 50 miles of CCA;
• Provide primary care services within 50 miles of CCA;
• Provide inpatient and outpatient mental-health benefits;
• Offer unlimited prescription benefits;
• Offer full coverage for all preexisting conditions.

These requirements apply to all full-time international and domestic students.

Important Information for International Students

The health insurance plan of all international students must also meet the additional criteria listed below in order to be waived:

• Cover repatriation of remains in the amount of $25,000 or greater;
• Cover medical evacuation expenses of the international student to that student's home country in the amount of $50,000 or greater.

J-1 international students must also meet Department of State requirements in order to be waived. These additional criteria are listed below:

• Plan deductible may not exceed $500 per accident or illness;
• If a copy of your insurance policy is requested, you must be able to provide a copy written in English showing benefit amounts in U.S. dollars.

You have two useful sources of information to help you compare your own health insurance to CCA’s Aetna health insurance plan.

• You can refer to your insurance company’s Evidence of Coverage booklet. The booklet is provided by your insurance company and describes all of your benefits and the limitations of those benefits.
• You may visit your carrier's website, or contact a representative with the insurance agency if you cannot locate such a document.

Online Waiver Instructions

If you wish to waive out of the CCA Student Health Insurance plan, please follow the instructions below.

• Go to: jcbins.com
• Note: If this is your first time visiting the site, you may need to create a student account with Gallagher Student Health & Special Risk. To do so, use your CCA email address to create your student account. (If that does not work, you may use your personal email address listed on Workday.)
• Type in "California College of the Arts"
• Select the plan year " 2023/2024 "
• Select “Domestic student” or “International student” and select "Go"
• On the bottom left-hand side, you will see the option "Submit Waiver Here"
• Complete the next three steps when prompted

You will be asked to submit the following information if you wish to waive:

• Insurance carrier name
• Medical ID number
• Upload a picture of your medical ID card
• Student first name, last name and date of birth

The system will check if your insurance is active against a national medical clearinghouse.

• Note: If your insurance plan is not on the waiver list, you will be required to upload a copy of your policy for review.
• If your insurance policy is found to be active and it meets the criteria listed, your waiver request will be approved.
• If your insurance policy does not meet all the waiver criteria, you are not eligible to waive the CCA student insurance plan and your waiver request will be denied and you will automatically be enrolled in CCA's student insurance plan.
• If you have questions as to whether a particular insurance plan meets CCA's waiver criteria, please submit a waiver request - you may do so as many times as you'd like up until the deadline.
• Please note that we are holding strict to the waiver criteria to ensure that our students have optimal insurance coverage as determined by the college.

Once you submit your online waiver application, you will receive an immediate response.

• The last screen of the online waiver application process will inform you of either your approval or denial.
• You will receive confirmation of your approval or denial upon completion in your CCA email inbox. Please keep a copy of that email confirmation for your records.
• Note: If you do not receive an email notifying you whether your waiver application was accepted or denied, it means your waiver application was not submitted and you must log in again to submit your waiver application.

If you make an error, you have until the waiver deadline to log in again and re-submit your waiver application

General Information

If you've received confirmation that your waiver was approved, your student insurance fee will be reversed by Student Accounts after the published insurance waiver deadline each semester. (See above for waiver deadline dates.)

• If you have questions related to your billing and charges please contact Student Accounts directly at studentaccounts@cca.edu.

Your approved waiver is effective for the current academic year only.

• If you want to waive participation for the next academic year, you must file another waiver application when that waiver period opens.

If you are waived out of CCA's student insurance plan for the Fall semester, you will automatically be waived out for the Spring/Summer semester of the same academic year.

• If you wish to enroll in the college’s student insurance plan, but have already been approved for a waiver, you can still enroll by emailing healthinsurance@cca.edu before the end of the waiver period to request a reversal of your insurance waiver.

Your Workday Student Information is used to upload demographic information into the insurance waiver system: name, CCA email, address, etc.

• To ensure the most accurate information is uploaded, please be sure to update your Workday Student profile prior to submitting an insurance waiver submission.

You are required to maintain health insurance at all times during the academic year.

• If you have waived the CCA Student Insurance, but your health insurance coverage is terminated for any reason (ex: coming of age, employment termination, etc.), you will be required to enroll in CCA's student insurance plan.
• To enroll in the plan you must contact healthinsurance@cca.edu within 30 days of losing coverage.

Waiving with Medi-Cal

If you are submitting an insurance waiver with Medi-Cal, it has to be within one of the approved counties below to meet CCA's minimum waiver requirements:

• Alameda County
• Contra Costa County
• Marin County
• Napa County
• Santa Clara County
• Santa Cruz County
• San Francisco County
• San Mateo County
• Solano County
• Sonoma County

If you are on a Medi-Cal health plan which provides access to care throughout the state you should select San Francisco County. Please note that you are still responsible for finding local providers who accept Medi-Cal.


Transferring Medi-Cal benefits within California:

• If your Medi-Cal coverage is not available within one of the approved counties, please contact your Medi-Cal county representative immediately and request for the Medi-Cal county change prior to the established waiver deadline.
• Please note that it could take more than a month to process the change request. Per CCA policy, all full-time students have to be fully covered by the end of add/drop. Unfortunately, without confirmation of coverage by the waiver deadline we would be unable to waive a student from the CCA plan or provide an extension for the current semester.

Transferring Medicaid benefits from a different state:

• Please visit:
  • Maintaining Medicaid Eligibility When Moving Between US States
  • Apply for Medi-Cal Coverage
• Please note that it could take more than a month to process a new Medi-Cal application. Per CCA policy, all full-time students have to be fully covered by the end of add/drop. Unfortunately, without confirmation of coverage by the waiver deadline we would be unable to waive a student from the CCA plan or provide an extension for the current semester.

Waiving with Medicare

Please note:

• Aetna's Medicare Eligibility Notice: You are not eligible to enroll in the student health plan if you have Medicare at the time of enrollment in this student plan. The plan does not provide coverage for people who have Medicare.  

In order to confirm that your Medicare coverage is current and active, you will need to be able to provide:

• A copy of your Medicare card;
• Proof of current coverage:
  • Evidence of Coverage document
    or
  • A letter confirming coverage, dated in the last 30 days, which may be obtained directly from Medicare).

Please contact healthinsurance@cca.edu for assistance waiving out of the student insurance plan requirement.

More information:

• Student Insurance Plan
• FAQ: Student Insurance & One Medical Membership

Need Assistance with the Waiver System?

• Please reach out to Gallagher Student Health & Special Risk: studentservices@jcbins.com

For general inquiries, please contact Student Affairs’ Student Insurance Services team at healthinsurance@cca.edu.