Every day, pundits and politicians laud Washington’s strides in health care reform, saying it will ensure quality coverage for more Americans. College students, however, may be left out, a new study finds.
As health care reform stands, college students will no longer be privy to the low-deductable and high-quality university health insurance plans many have relied on for decades, said Jim Mitchell, spokesperson for the Lookout Mountain Group — a non-partisan study group that examines how college students would be impacted by various federal and state health care reform models.
The group released a report earlier this month warning health care reform proposals do not address student interests and could, as a result, have an adverse effect on the cost and quality of student health care.
“Reforming health care is an an extremely complex process and Congress forgot about college students,” said Mitchell, who is also the director of student health services at Montana State University.
Without the inclusion of university-sponsored insurance plans, he said, students may be left to decide between two bleak options: a “young invincible plan” that forces students into high-risk insurance coverage, or no insurance at all.
The idea of a “young invincible plan,” Mitchell said, would provide young people, who are widely considered the healthiest and most vivacious class of Americans, with policies that only cover dire emergencies and still require students to pay a hefty price for medical care.
Many young adults, however, are ill-prepared to cover significant out-of-pocket costs associated with health insurance plans, the study noted.
“For people who are not in school, catastrophic coverage is better than no coverage,” Mitchell said. “But the cost of university plans aren’t much different and provide more coverage.”
Basic health services, like preventative care, mental health services, chronic medical condition services and prescriptions should be considered essential elements of basic coverage for young adults, the study asserted. Most university plans are structured to include all of these aspects of health care, while “young invincible plans” would not.
“Many [university health plans] provide comprehensive coverage, complying with the standards for college health insurance plans endorsed by the American College Health Association,” Mitchell said in a written statement. “The programs provide catastrophic coverage, medical and mental health benefits, prescription drug benefits, and many have no pre-existing condition exclusion.”
The health reform legislation being considered in the U.S. Senate classifies plans under two umbrella categories: employer-based group plans and policies given to independent individuals. College-issued plans don’t fit into either of these groups.
“Congress simply isn’t thinking about college students’ health care,” American College Health Association President Jim Turner told Inside Higher Ed. “They’re not trying to be malicious, I don’t think, but the legislation could unintentionally be eliminating student health insurance programs.”
At this university, all incoming students were required to have health insurance — university plan or otherwise — as of this fall. University officials have prided themselves on the affordability and breadth of the coverage. Students are asked to pay $15 out-of-pocket for services offered at the University Health Center, Assistant Director for Health Promotion Kelly Kesler said.
“The co-payment most individuals pay through private insurance to be seen by their provider generally ranges from $10 to $25 for a regular visit, so the cost is still reasonable,” she said.
Nationally, student insurance plans were offered at 71 percent of four-year private universities, 82 percent of four-year public institutions and 29 percent of two-year public colleges during the 2007-2008 academic year, according to a March 2008 Government Accountability Office report.
The report only measured college students between 18 and 23, but the Lookout Mountain Group study points to a population of students older than 24 who would not be eligible for coverage under their parents’ insurance plans and may not be able to afford insurance while paying tuition.
The total number of uninsured college students, according to Lookout Mountain Group estimates, is between 4 million and 5 million. Mitchell said he’s afraid if university health plans are cut, the number of uninsured young people could increase.
“[Without school-sponsored plans] students might avoid paying for prescriptions or avoid seeing a private therapist, because they don’t have any more free sessions with a university counselor. … They’re going to be consumed with bills they can’t pay off.”
botelho at umdbk dot com, mlang at umdbk dot com
