Insurance in the US for an international student

Hi.
I have applied to a handful of US universities to continue my graduate studies in computer science. One of the professors in UIUC is looking eager in recruiting me for master's, where I will be a teaching assistant. That's an awesome position. UIUC is within the nation's top 5 universities in CS and is very reputable. Unfortunately, there's a big problem. The University's health insurance plan's Rx list does not cover any class of TPO-RA drugs. That's very ridiculous, I have checked many other less reputable universities, such as Stony Brook or Rochester University and it was included. This is their Rx list:
www.uhcsr.com/media/06ab3d0d-459b-4c93-96c7-50d47fcdec1b

Now it seems the only option is to find a comparable plan that covers Nplate or Promacta and it is accepted in the Urbana-Champaign and is within 50 miles of the campus:
si.illinois.edu/opting-out

This is so unfortunate. Please help if you have any idea about such insurances that will cover an international student. The other option would be that I tell the professor who is going the admit me and let her know about my condition and see if she can help. But I prefer to do this after I have the official offer letter (the i-20 letter) so that at least they will not reject me only for having itp.

Thanks. 

I would call the attorney general’s office for the state the university is in. I am fortunate to live in Minnesota as far medical goes. There are laws here where they cannot exclude treatments randomly.   I would also challenge this through Human Resources/insurance people. The university of Minnesota people here based on hiring status qualified under the faculty insurance plan. Most student level insurance is more limited in coverage. I would not just accept this without a fight. Also, some medications that are not in the formulary, can get approved by a prior authorization. You can request information about how to get a prior authorization that your doctor can complete. I know it is frustrating to fight with insurance, but they expect people to just accept no without challenging them. Hope this is helpful.

Rose

Hi Rose.
Thanks for your very instructive comment!
I called UIUC's insurance office again and explained the condition again. She told me some injectable drugs may not be on the list, but are still covered. She talked about Jcode/CPT code that drugs have (this is more of insurance thing I guess). So I found out Nplate's Jcode is J2796. It turned out it is covered. That was a relief!

I also officially got admitted into SUNY-Stony Brook as a full time teaching assistant and a huge 3-year fellowship. I found out all three nplate/promacta/avatrombopag is covered there too, so it is very fine! But honestly I'm waiting for UIUC's response cuz it's more prestigious. 

Lman
Good news that your meds are covered.  Hope  all goes well when you get there.

So great you're covered! Remember that's one of the reasons I'm not going back for a while, it's so difficult. But you made it! 

Thanks. Still got a lot more to go.
The whole journey is not going to be easy but I'll do my best to reach it!