Moving to Fairbanks/North Pole area...lots of questions

[RayinAK]

The clinic at UAF is extremely limited in relation to care and the time it's open during the day. What happens most times is that the Fire Station ambulance service will respond to emergencies on campus and transport you to the hospital. Around six years ago an ambulance trip from UAF to the hospital was around $600.00.

It's true that all depends on your insurance, but medical care in Fairbanks is extremely expensive. For example, just for a simple gastroscopy for GERD (a 20-minute procedure) expect to pay a total of $6,701.00, most with is paid by the insurance company. But out of that number pre and post procedure visits to the doctor comes out of you pocket, and it costs around $150.00 per visit. The deductible for Bluecross/Blueshield of Alaska cost me around $750.00 last year, but this year the deductible will be a little more than double the amount I paid last year. If I go to the hospital for the same procedure this year, the deductible will be over $1,500 (out of my pocket).

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

If you're on campus, UAF has a nurse/EMT in the clinic 24/7 unless they seriously changed things recently. If you can get to the clinic or call the office, they'll try to get you stabilized and call an ambulance. I believe this service is included with your tuition and/or dorm fees.

I didn't even think of the UAF clinic because it's open like five minutes a day and they're not what you'd call full-service

UAF Student Health and Counseling Center | Index

I don't see anything about there being a person on call at all times, and I've never heard of that, but maybe I'm just unaware.

As far as the cost goes, AFAIK they charge just like any clinic. Students who don't have their own health insurance can purchase a limited form of health insurance through the university by paying an additional fee, but the coverage is pretty terrible IMO.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Wow things have changed. The health clinic was fairly decent when I was attending UAA, figured UAF was similar... but that was ages ago

[KleShreen]

Thanks for all the great advice, everyone! If I get offered the job, I'm just going to see if they would be willing to offer some kind of temporary health insurance for the 10 month internship. My type one diabetes is very well-controlled, I might also see if I can just go the 10 months without a doctor's appointment because after seven years of having it, I have yet to have any kind of "emergency" with it...just worried about that one time it might happen and I'm stuck in seven feet of snow in the dark with no transportation.

[usafracer]

You will be hard pressed to find 7' of snow in Fairbanks.