Health insurance may be mandatory under ASUSU bill

The uninsured at USU might have to investigate health plans if legislation in ASUSU gets passed.

When the Academic Senate and Executive Council met Tuesday night they discussed a resolution that would make having health insurance mandatory before students could enroll at USU. The resolution was tabled. The bill’s sponsor, Maure Smith, said she hopes they can get more student input before voting.

Smith, president of the Graduate Students Senate, said students without health care put a burden on the university, other students and the community. If students were required to have health insurance before coming to USU, it would lower insurance premiums and keep students in class, she said.

At the ASUSU meeting, Academic Senate President Michelle Lundberg said she disagreed with the bill.

“This is a political issue and because we have a conservative campus when I talked to students, I got the feeling that the students know best their situation,” Lundberg said. She said many students think health insurance is important but “choose not to get it for a variety of reasons,” and the university should respect that decision.

Smith said Idaho, a conservative state, has passed the same policy, as have several other states.

The idea has been tossed around for years but this is the first resolution proposed that would put it into action.

Jim Davis, director of the Health and Wellness Center, said the same program was implemented at the University of Utah in the early ’90s but failed in part because other Utah universities didn’t participate.

In the legislation she is trying to pass, Smith said USU will only implement the program if students and administration work together to get the Board of Regents to get all Utah universities to participate. She said people at U of U are trying to organize other schools in Utah to pass mandatory health insurance legislation.

“This is a multi-faceted problem,” Davis said. “Students are at a developmental stage where they are risk takers. They aren’t quite ready to take responsibility on their own so mandates come into play. So the real question is: if you get ill, who do you expect to pay for it?”

Smith said the proposed policy would be like the one in place for international students. USU students would be required to provide proof of insurance, whether through the university or some other company, before being enrolled.

Davis said he is in favor of a mandatory insurance policy for students for many reasons. First he says it will increase retention, because if students will be less likely to leave school to seek health care or have to drop out of school to pay a hospital bill. His next concern is public health. Davis said when students don’t seek proper health care, they sit in class and could infect other students.

USU liability also comes into play. Davis said if someone gets injured on campus and a parent calls up to find out what happened, the question is just, “Why were they doing that?” instead of “Who’s going to pay for it?”

The “town/gown relationship” is another reason Davis believes students should have health care. He said, “If you come to town and leave an unpaid medical bill, it’s just as if you’re not paying rent. It reflects badly on the university.”

Responsibility is his final concern. Davis said students simply need to be more responsible about their health care. “Who do you expect to pay for that? Yet you have resources to buy pizza and books,” he said. Davis said students neglect their health care when they could take care of it and avoid problems with bills and bad health down the road.

Smith said she has tried to get the word out, but not many people have contacted her. She said she wants to know what students think about the policy and try to educate them about what the policy is doing. Smith can be contacted at msmith@english.usu.edu.

“I don’t know how students without insurance expect to pay. Some just rely on hospitals or doctors writing it off or they rely on the taxpayers. If they expect others to pay, it raises the price of insurance,” she said.

If all Utah students were insured, it would lower premiums, Davis said.

“I have the heartbreak of watching students day after day,” he said. “I’m tired of that barrier. If someone fractures their ankle, I might not be able to take x-rays. I can’t treat those who have insurance and ignore those who don’t anymore.”

Davis said USU has done studies showing students would be able to afford it, especially because if it is a required school expense, grants and scholarships could then cover health insurance.

He said he must look at the benefit for the majority and mitigate the problems for the minority.

-dilewis@cc.usu.edu