Medical students spend years learning how the health system works. Yet long before their attempt to understand the complexities of health insurance at a macro level, future physicians have to make health insurance decisions for their time in medical school.
What does the health insurance landscape look like for medical students? Here are some insights on that question.
Health insurance is a medical student necessity
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which accredits medical training programs in the U.S. and Canada, mandates that medical schools ensure health insurance is available and required for all students. There’s good reason for the requirement.
Medical debt is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the U.S. In a survey of graduating medical students published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in 2026, about 30% of respondents said they entered medical school with some form of debt. That same survey found that 55% of respondents were graduating medical school with $100,000 or more in debt.
Mike Hegwood is assistant vice president of AMA Insurance Agency, Inc., an AMA subsidiary. He compared the need for medical student health insurance to the need most drivers have for auto insurance in that routine expenses may be manageable, but one major accident or illness can create costs that are impossible to handle alone.
“It's not so much about the routine medical exams and physicals,” Hegwood said. “At that age, you want to protect yourself against some sort of catastrophic situation, quite honestly.”
How medical students get health insurance covered
A 2024 single-institution study published in the journal Discover Health Systems examined health care utilization and health insurance coverage among 278 clinical and preclinical medical students at a Philadelphia medical school.
Survey results found that medical students most frequently reported the following sources of health insurance coverage:
- Coverage through their parents’ plan—51.2%.
- Their medical school plan—27.3%.
- Medicaid or Medicare—15.7%.
- A partner’s plan—2.4%.
Under a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), people under 26 are able to remain on their parents’ employer-sponsored health plan. Hegwood said medical students should stay on a parent’s plan as long as possible because it is often the least expensive and least complicated option, sparing them the cost of buying separate coverage during medical school.
Married medical students can also save on the cost of health insurance by getting coverage through a spouse’s plan.
“Whatever you can do to be covered through someone else, that's a huge, huge benefit,” Hegwood said.
Get up to speed on the bewildering world of health insurance with this “Health Plan 101” from the AMA.
How much medical students pay for health insurance
For medical students who are unable to get coverage through a parent or spouse, the vast majority of medical schools offer school-sponsored health insurance plans.
Each year, the AAMC gathers data on medical school tuition, fees and insurance costs. In 2026, the average annual cost of coverage through a school-sponsored plan at public medical school was around $3,500. The cost of plans at private medical schools was around $4,150.
Medical school plans are often offered on an opt-out basis.
“Most schools will require a student to opt out of their school-sponsored coverage annually,” Hegwood said. “The goal is to make sure medical students are covered one way or another.”
AMA policy on the topic urges medical schools and residency training programs to pay for or offer comprehensive and affordable health insurance coverage, including but not limited to medical, dental, and vision care.
ACA Marketplace or Medicaid coverage
Health plans on the ACA Marketplace—HealthCare.gov—may be an option for medical students who are not covered through a parent, spouse or school-sponsored plan. But Hegwood suggested that school-based coverage is often the more affordable choice, saying medical students who need their own coverage will pay less through their institution than by buying a plan on the open market.
Nearly 16% of students in the Discovery Health System study reported having Medicaid or Medicare coverage. Medicaid may be an option for some medical students whose parents do not claim them as dependents and whose income falls below applicable limits, though eligibility varies by state and depends on factors such as income and household circumstances.
As medical students move through medical school and toward residency, Hegwood said the most important step is to understand their options before they are required to make higher-stakes health-insurance coverage decisions.
“Don't wait to become educated on coverage,” he said. “Begin that process as best you can now, just so you're informed.”
