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An insurance waiver is an application that you fill out if you have other qualifying health insurance and do not wish to be enrolled in the CU Boulder SHIP. As part of the waiver process, you are required to provide specific information about your insurance coverage, which must meet the waiver criteria. This information will be verified by a third-party audit company.

CU Boulder communicates the dates and requirements for the waiver process through various mediums like: New Student Welcome Days, Bursar Office communications, mailings, email, CU Boulder websites, social media postings and a SHIP charge posted to your student account. You will also receive emails from our designated waiver/enrollment administrator, Academic HealthPlans (AHP), directly  to  your  official  CU  Boulder email account  detailing instructions  and  the  opportunity to complete the secure online waiver process. Communications regarding the process will start prior to each semester (mid-June for the fall semester and mid-December for the spring semester).

It is the student’s responsibility to check their official CU Boulder email account and complete the process. Emails forwarded from the CU Boulder account to outside email services (e.g. Gmail and Yahoo) could cause the email to go into a SPAM folder. Additional information is also available on the CU Boulder Health and Wellness Services website.

If a student elects to provide their own private insurance plan for waiver purposes, Academic HealthPlans will verify that the plan provides current and active coverage.

To complete the insurance waiver process, please have your insurance ID card available. Most of the information needed can be found on the insurance ID card. In some instances, you may need to access the insurance company's website, contact the plan adminstrator, or insurance carrier for additional information.

Please make sure the information you provide on your waiver application is accurate, as incorrect or incomplete information may cause your waiver application to be denied. Information provided on waiver applications will be verified by a third-party waiver auditor.

• Fall deadline: Fall semester tuition and fee due date.
• Spring/summer deadline: Spring semester tuition and fee due date.

Students who do not successfully complete the waiver application process by the waiver deadline will be automatically enrolled in SHIP. If you miss the waiver deadline, you may waive coverage the subsequent semester. The waiver portal will open prior to the beginning of each semester. Please complete the process as soon as possible to avoid missing the deadline and to ensure you have enough time to respond to any waiver deficiency notices prior to the deadline.

1. Waiver approvals can usually be completed within a few minutes. However, if the information cannot be confirmed electronically, it can take 7-10 business days. The information that is needed is found on your insurance card.
2. Once you submit your application, your information must go through an audit to verify the information provided is accurate, satisfies the waiver criteria and the coverage is active. The audit process takes 7-10 business days. 
3. If your plan fails the audit, you will be notified via your official CU Boulder email account that the information provided is incorrect or that your plan does not meet the requirements. You may return to the portal and correct information or submit a new plan for audit.
4. If you receive a waiver approval email, your CU Boulder student account (if charged) will reflect a credit for the insurance within 5 business days of the approval email. 

If you obtain other coverage and it is past the waiver deadline date, you will have to wait until the next semester to submit a waiver application. No refunds will be issued after the waiver submission deadline.

If you receive an approved waiver in the fall, that approval will carry over to the spring/summer semesters. If you received a waiver approval in the spring, your waiver approval will be good until the end of the summer semester. Students must meet this requirement their first semester at CU Boulder and at the beginning (fall) of each academic year.

Once you submit a waiver application, you will receive a “CU Boulder SHIP Waiver Application Received” email via your official CU Boulder student email account. This means your information has been successfully transmitted.

Your waiver is not final until you receive a “Waiver Approval” or “Waiver Denial” email message. Please check your student email account regularly. It  is  your  responsibility  to  check  your  student  email  account  for waiver  status  updates  and  to send in additional documentation if requested.

Approval of your waiver means that you will not be enrolled in the Student Health Insurance Plan for the academic year and that medical costs you incur will be your responsibility. CU Boulder reserves the right to verify your eligibility status. If at any time it is discovered that you have failed to maintain coverage that meets the stated requirements, your waiver will be revoked, and you will be required to enroll in the CU Boulder SHIP.

If you receive an email that requires action, you must provide the requested information, or your waiver will be denied. If you  provide  the  necessary information  and  it  meets  the  waiver requirements,  you  will  be  notified  via  your  student  email account  within  7-10 business  days  that  your  waiver  was  approved. If you do not provide the information by the date requested, or if the documentation you provide does not meet the insurance waiver requirements, you will be automatically enrolled in SHIP and you will receive notice that your waiver application was denied after the waiver deadline.

It is your responsibility to check your student email account for waiver status updates and to send in additional documentation if requested. Please see below for a more detailed explanation of the information needed requests.

  ​  Policy is not active: This means the waiver administrator auditors have verified with your insurance company that the insurance plan you submitted is no longer active. You will need to update your insurance waiver application to reflect an insurance plan that is effective on or before the first day of class and runs through the end of the academic year.

  ​  Invalid remarks or auditor unable to complete the audit: This means that your insurance carrier was unable to provide confirmation to the waiver auditors that you are enrolled in one of their plans. This audit failure can happen for a few reasons. The most common reason is that your member ID number was entered incorrectly, or you have entered the wrong insurance company in your application. You will need to update your waiver application with the correct ID and carrier information.

In the event that auditors are still unable to validate your insurance coverage after you update your application, there is a manual “Letter of Verification” form that is available for you to have the insurance carrier complete and return to our attention. Please contact our waiver administrator at Specialty Insurance Solutions to obtain a Letter of Verification form.

While the audit failure notices listed above are the most common, there are several other notices you may receive depending on what information is lacking from your audit, so please review each email carefully. Here are some other helpful tips:

  ​  Tricare: If you are a veteran or service personnel/dependent, please enter your Department of Defense Benefits Number (DBN), which is an 11-digit number located on the back of your card or the social security number of the primary insured service member as your member ID. The other numbers displayed on the card, including the DOD number, cannot be used to verify Tricare eligibility.

  ​  Medicare: Please upload a copy of the front and back of your current Medicare ID card with your waiver application.

  ​  VA benefits: If you have VA benefits, you can upload a VA benefits letter, a dated benefits ID card or use your social security number as your member ID number.

If you receive an “Important Information” email, it is to notify you that the insurance coverage you submitted is approved under the waiver terms, but the plan provided does not include comprehensive benefits outside of your home area and may only cover life threatening emergencies in Colorado. This email is sent to inform you that you may want to acquire additional coverage to ensure that primary care and preventative benefits are available to you while you reside in Colorado.

Many regional insurance companies or out-of-state HMOs have special arrangements either through “guest” or “visiting “privileges, or through a Primary Care Physician (PCP) referral to a provider in the Boulder area for students who will be studying away from home. Usually this is available at no extra cost, but you must contact your insurance company to activate this extended coverage. We strongly suggest that you contact your insurance company to see if this can be arranged prior to having  a  medical  need  while  attending  CU  Boulder that  may  put  you  at  financial  risk.  Additionally, you may wish to purchase BuffCare to supplement your coverage.

If you submitted a Medicaid plan that is from a state other than Colorado, you may wish to explore the following other options to  avoid  potentially  heavy  financial  risk,  since  out-of-state  Medicaid  plans  generally  do  not  extend  coverage  other  than emergency care outside of the home state:•Contact your state’s Medicaid office to see if out-of-state coverage (other than emergency) is available

• Enroll in Colorado Medicaid
• Enroll in Colorado State University’s SHIP and check with the Office of Financial Aid to see if additional aid is available to cover some or all the premium
• Enroll in another comparable health plan that offers comprehensive benefits in Colorado
• Consider purchasing BuffCare to supplement your Medicaid Coverage

If you started a waiver application and did not complete it or have an unresolved/failed waiver application on file on the waiver application deadline date, you will receive a Waiver Application Denied email and you will be automatically enrolled in and charged for SHIP. If you feel the denial was in error or due to administrative error, you may challenge the waiver denial by contacting the CU Boulder Student Insurance Office at 303-492-5107 to submit an appeal.  Appeals must be received within 7 business days of your waiver denial notification to be considered.

It came to CU Boulder’s attention that in past years (academic years 18/19 and earlier), students were submitting plans that were either inactive, did not provide coverage in the state of Colorado, or were not compliant with the CU Boulder insurance requirements. To more fairly ensure that all students in a required category were meeting the insurance requirement, CU Boulder contracted with a third-party eligibility administrator (Academic HealthPlans) to manage the communication and eligibility/waiver process.