Students go Without Health Insurance in Spite of Risks
The Student Life section of Utah State Today highlights work written by a talented student journalist at Utah State University. Each week, the editor selects a story that has been published in The Utah Statesman or the Hard News Cafe' for inclusion in Utah State Today.
Students go Without Health Insurance in Spite of Risks
By: Nathanial Hardman in The Utah Statesman, Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Features
Where do people go when they get hurt? For many, the answer is obvious - the doctor. For the approximately 300,000 uninsured in Utah, however, the answer may not be so clear.
For students without insurance at USU, there is the option of visiting the Student Health and Wellness Center, a free service covered by student fees, but according to Jim Davis, director of the Health Center, the free services available to students do not cover the need for insurance.
Davis was invited to attend the summit Governor Huntsman convened last week on the insurance crisis in Utah. According to statistics given at the summit, 11.9 percent of Utahns, some 306,500 people, do not have insurance. Of those uninsured, the largest cohort was ages 19 through 34. Davis explained that since universities have a higher-than-average concentration of people that age, they also have a higher-than-average rate of uninsured adults. According to the last census taken of the university two years ago, 19 percent of USU students were uninsured.
Noelle Hansen, director of student health insurance, said the university has taken steps toward making health insurance mandatory for all students. Hansen said while mandatory insurance has been largely approved at the university, both USU and the University of Utah are waiting on a statewide initiative that would make health insurance mandatory for students at both universities. Hansen said that the earliest the initiative would go into effect would be next fall.
Jared Hardman, graduate student with three children, studying biochemistry, has been without insurance for the last four years.
"Most of the time I don't mind not having insurance," Hardman said. "I don't go to the doctor very often, and when I do, I just pay for it out of pocket. We looked into insurance a while back, but for a small family like ours it would have been easily $200 or $300 dollars per month. So it was just more feasible to pay out of pocket."
Karin Hardman, Jared's wife, said the student health insurance offered through the university was especially bad.
Davis was invited to attend the summit Governor Huntsman convened last week on the insurance crisis in Utah. According to statistics given at the summit, 11.9 percent of Utahns, some 306,500 people, do not have insurance. Of those uninsured, the largest cohort was ages 19 through 34. Davis explained that since universities have a higher-than-average concentration of people that age, they also have a higher-than-average rate of uninsured adults. According to the last census taken of the university two years ago, 19 percent of USU students were uninsured.
Noelle Hansen, director of student health insurance, said the university has taken steps toward making health insurance mandatory for all students. Hansen said while mandatory insurance has been largely approved at the university, both USU and the University of Utah are waiting on a statewide initiative that would make health insurance mandatory for students at both universities. Hansen said that the earliest the initiative would go into effect would be next fall.
Jared Hardman, graduate student with three children, studying biochemistry, has been without insurance for the last four years.
"Most of the time I don't mind not having insurance," Hardman said. "I don't go to the doctor very often, and when I do, I just pay for it out of pocket. We looked into insurance a while back, but for a small family like ours it would have been easily $200 or $300 dollars per month. So it was just more feasible to pay out of pocket."
Karin Hardman, Jared's wife, said the student health insurance offered through the university was especially bad.
"They make you pay huge premiums for crappy coverage. It would have cost $450 per month plus a thousand dollar deductible for 80/20 coverage and no maternity. It was so crappy we didn't even consider it," she said.
Kris Bennett, sophomore in mechanical engineering, had similar feelings about insurance.
"I don't think I need insurance. I haven't been to the doctor in years, except for stupid things," he said. "Probably since I was 17."
Nevertheless, Bennett says he looks forward to getting insurance, partly because of the insistence of his wife.
"She's more sensible; she thinks ahead to what might happen," he said.
Looking ahead to what might happen is something many uninsured people don't do, said Davis.
"Students think they have no risk, and then they develop illness and become uninsurable," he said, adding it is because of risk that he feels students need to have insurance.
"By chipping into a common pool [insurance], we share risk with everyone else... It's more expensive today, but less expensive tomorrow when you get hurt."
Part of not anticipating risk, according to Davis, is assuming that the students with whom one associates are healthy, an assumption which may often be wrong. Davis tells of a student who was coughing for eight months before going in to the health center and being diagnosed with tuberculosis. For eight months this student was unwittingly coughing out tuberculosis germs all over campus.
"It's not like people who have insurance are at higher risk than people without insurance; the risk is there whether you have insurance or not," Davis said.
James Porter, senior in secondary education, hasn't had insurance since he got married in March. His wife Anne is insured.
"I don't think (insurance) is necessary for me," said Porter. "But I think it's good that Anne is covered just in case we have a little tomato on the way."
Porter said he and his wife were looking forward to graduating and getting insurance with work.
Kris Bennett, sophomore in mechanical engineering, had similar feelings about insurance.
"I don't think I need insurance. I haven't been to the doctor in years, except for stupid things," he said. "Probably since I was 17."
Nevertheless, Bennett says he looks forward to getting insurance, partly because of the insistence of his wife.
"She's more sensible; she thinks ahead to what might happen," he said.
Looking ahead to what might happen is something many uninsured people don't do, said Davis.
"Students think they have no risk, and then they develop illness and become uninsurable," he said, adding it is because of risk that he feels students need to have insurance.
"By chipping into a common pool [insurance], we share risk with everyone else... It's more expensive today, but less expensive tomorrow when you get hurt."
Part of not anticipating risk, according to Davis, is assuming that the students with whom one associates are healthy, an assumption which may often be wrong. Davis tells of a student who was coughing for eight months before going in to the health center and being diagnosed with tuberculosis. For eight months this student was unwittingly coughing out tuberculosis germs all over campus.
"It's not like people who have insurance are at higher risk than people without insurance; the risk is there whether you have insurance or not," Davis said.
James Porter, senior in secondary education, hasn't had insurance since he got married in March. His wife Anne is insured.
"I don't think (insurance) is necessary for me," said Porter. "But I think it's good that Anne is covered just in case we have a little tomato on the way."
Porter said he and his wife were looking forward to graduating and getting insurance with work.
"We're just hoping to hold on 'till I get a job with benefits," he said. "Try and keep the major injuries to a minimum until then … It adds a bit of extra worry in life."
Some students feel that insurance is not the best protection against risk. Jared said that one drawback of insurance is that most insurance plans don't cover alternative forms of medicine or even quasi-medical practices like massage therapy, midwifery, or even chiropractics. When the Hardman's were expecting their third baby, they qualified for Medicaid but largely employed the services of medical midwives, who, though not covered by insurance, were cheaper than the co-pays for doctors' visits.
According to Davis, the main need for insurance is access to the medical services one may need.
"If you're injured or ill, you need to pay for services," he said. "Just like if you're hungry, you need to pay for food. The amount of medical care you get and the ease with which you get it depend on your ability to pay."
-N.hardman@aggiemail.usu.edu
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