Insurance Coverage Periods

Students enroll in coverage for the following periods: 

• Fall semester: August 15 – January 14 
• Spring/Summer semesters: January 15 – August 15 

Notes on the insurance coverage periods:

• Students who arrive mid-term or at the beginning of summer enroll for the current term at a prorated amount.
• Students who graduate in the Spring semester must initially pay for their entire Spring coverage period (January 15 – August 14) but will be allowed to cancel their coverage and receive a refund for the last three months of the coverage period (May 15 – August 14). IES will send an email in April to all international students with permission to graduate from the Registrar’s office with information on how to unenroll and request a refund.      

Insurance Waivers

As a reminder, Southeast requires all F1 and J1 students to have insurance. Only the following groups are eligible to be waived from the University’s plan:

• Students on an approved, fully-funded governmental scholarship (e.g., SACM, Kuwait)
• Short-term visiting or exchange student from a partner university
• Participant in the UGRAD, TJSP, YEAR, or other State Department-funded program
• Student on the Japan America Academic Council (JAAC) program

If you are a student eligible to be waived from the insurance requirement, please complete the Insurance Waiver Request form. 

Insurance Purchase and Enrollment Details

• SEMO students are required to enroll in the University’s insurance plan and purchase their plan directly from our insurance provider.  The deadline to purchase coverage is September 1 for the Fall semester, and February 1 for the Spring semester.
• Students will go to the Lewermark website to purchase their coverage. A bank or credit card is required.
•  Instructions for purchasing insurance can be found in the "Payment Portal Guide."
• IMPORTANT: When purchasing insurance, you may see two options when choosing your school. One will read “Southeast Missouri State University” and the other will read “Southeast Missouri State University OPT.” DO NOT choose the “Southeast Missouri State University OPT” option unless you have already graduated and have active OPT status. 
• NOTE: Health insurance is required for all SEMO international students. Those who have not purchased insurance by the deadline will be contacted by an IES representative. Students who do not purchase insurance will be dropped from SEMO courses which may result in SEVIS termination.

OPT Students

SEMO’s insurance requirement ends once a student graduates. However, students on OPT status are eligible to continue their coverage as long as they are in active SEVIS status and have been continually enrolled in the SEMO insurance plan. Once a graduate declines or unenrolls from the insurance plan, they are not able to re-enroll at a later date. 

OPT students who wish to continue their coverage will enroll in and pay for the plan directly in the LewerMark portal.

Notes:

• Recent graduates will be informed about the opportunity to maintain coverage in the SEMO plan.

• When purchasing insurance while on OPT, it is important to choose the “Southeast Missouri State University OPT” option. 
• Coverage periods for OPT are different than the periods for current students.  OPT coverage periods are:
  • January 15 – May 14
  • May 15 – August 14
  • August 15 – January 15

• It is the OPT student’s responsibility to remember the coverage period they are enrolled in, and it is their responsibility to work with Lewermark to maintain coverage. SEMO will not send OPT students reminders about re-enrolling in coverage.