GUEST COLUMN: Insurance for all a positive
The bottom line of the student health insurance resolution is that USU students deserve access to affordable health insurance. It’s natural for people to have concerns about major policy changes. Some believe the reasons for mandatory health insurance are vague and unfounded. I’ll try to clarify and substantiate the claims in hopes of providing more understanding.
Our student health insurance is in a death spiral. Because it’s a group plan, underwriting isn’t required of those who choose to enroll. It’s the only option for many students, and the cost is getting to be out of reach for some in this situation. If this insurance were discontinued, many wouldn’t have insurance options.
We have an excellent student health center that is paid for with $35 in our fees. When we use the Student Health and Wellness Center, we pay only for supplies that we use such as labs, sutures, x-rays, etc., at prices lower than what it costs in town. They provide annual physicals and treat minor illnesses or injuries. However, students may need services outside of regular hours, may need more sophisticated tests than what’s offered, or a serious illness could require hospitalization. Insurance is very useful at these times.
At first glance, USU’s student health insurance doesn’t look like much because we’re comparing it to insurance that one would receive as a benefit of employment. USU’s student insurance is meant for serious situations and picks up where the student health center leaves off. The prescription benefit has a limit because it’s meant for serious illnesses not requiring hospitalization but still needing expensive medications, not daily prescriptions. Due to Title IX, pregnancy is covered as any other condition. Most individual plans have a $5,000 deductible for pregnancy.
Our insurance company told us that if we mandated insurance, they could take 25 to 30 percent off our premiums, resulting in rates less than $1,500 per year for a student. As the plan stabilizes, premiums could be reduced even further and benefits could also improve. The state of Idaho requires college students to have health insurance. The annual premium at Boise State University is $992, and it is $930 at Idaho State University.
Some argue that mandatory health insurance is too intrusive, but medicals bills that one doesn’t have the means to pay are more intrusive. Students will be healthier because they will be more likely to use cost-saving, and often life-saving, preventive services, and they will be less likely to delay needed care, so minor problems won’t become serious and more costly.
One burden created by uninsured students is higher premiums due to adverse selection and low enrollment. Another is that many without insurance take advantage of federal law requiring emergency rooms to treat everyone in need regardless of ability to pay. Avoidable emergency care crowds ERs and hinders life-saving care.
We are risk takers, but something else is involved – risks involved in just being alive. Insurance is risk management and risk sharing. Reducing risk completely to zero isn’t possible. Risk can be managed by paying all costs at each occurrence, gambling that nothing will be needed, but some risk full responsibility for extremely high medical bills or by paying a much smaller amount of money into a pool that the group can use for needed care. Students are often unaware of costs associated with health care, which is why we need mandatory insurance.
The University of Utah’s student government passed a resolution supporting this mandate last year. They want the other schools in Utah to follow their lead, and the issue will be discussed with the Board of Regents. Gov. Huntsman has an interest because he wants to reduce the number of Utahns without health insurance by 50 percent.
Those with insurance through their parents, spouse or own employment can opt out of the school’s insurance with a hard waiver or use the student insurance as a secondary plan. Tracking waivers won’t be a problem because other schools have done it. Students will need to select the student insurance or report their insurance policy name and number before registering. An audit is done of those with waivers. Schools with hard waiver policies have had few problems.
I’m a poor graduate student; however, for the reasons above, I support mandatory health insurance.
The Student Health and Wellness Center helps us maintain health and resolve health concerns, including insurance, so that we can succeed academically. They are located at 850 E. 1200 North, just north of Romney Stadium.
The complete student health resolution, policy paper and a more complete rebuttal are available at www.usu.edu/usugss/community.cfm.
Stephanie Warenski is a grad student at USU. Comments can be sent to swarenski@cc.usu.edu.