Wednesday, April 20, 2005

High Costs for Health Insurance

It’s unfortunate to see American college students remain covered under their parents’ plans or without any coverage at all because of the high costs of health insurance. Twenty-nine percent of 42 million people across the country that remain without any form of health insurance are between the ages of 18 and 24 years. When choosing to avoid an insurance plan, a person is at risk for financial devastation. Not to mention, if an uninsured student were to become seriously ill while in college the student would have the extra responsibility of paying the hospital and doctor bills, which this could also lead to credit problems, forcing students to leave school to pay for these expenses. Most colleges still do not require health insurance because they feel it puts unnecessary barriers in front of students who wish to attend there. This year Ball State University’s Health Center was visited by 27,950 students and of those visits, students with no health insurance paid out-of-pocket for prescriptions and other lab tests because it’s not covered by the center’s flat fee. Would it be beneficial for both the school and students to pool a health plan and become self-insuring for the everyday common malady?

1 comment:

Morgan K said...

yes. I think that heath care and insurance is absolutely vital. Today you may be healthy, but God only knows what may hit you tomorrow. For me, the rest of my life, I'll have to have health insurance, one way or another... unless I happen to land on a mountain of gold, which is very unlikely to happen. From my point of view, I think that everyone should be covered under some sort of health care. Thus, it would be a great idea if the schools and families came together with some sort of plan in order to become covered, if not already.