Health insurance a tough pill to swallow

Health insurance is something that’s often not routinely thought about by students until something goes wrong. College students also often don’t know where they fall when it comes to health-insurance coverage. Many students are covered under their parent’s health insurance, taking the responsibility off the students.

“I’m covered under my parents’ plan,” Jessica Cumbee, a freshman biology major, said. “It’s difficult to find out about health care and once you find the information, it’s hard to understand.”

Students are generally covered under their parent’s health insurance until they are about 23 years old. To maintain this coverage, students must take a full-time load of classes – 12 hours.

Kay Anderson, GCSU’s registrar, suggests students weigh their options carefully before going below 12 hours.

“If you change your status below (12 hours), you’ll no longer be considered at full time at that point and we caution students to be very careful about mak- be very particular on their policies.”

Some students find themselves in a situation where an illness prevents them from being a full-time student. For these special circumstances, Congress passed Michelle’s Law.

“This law includes a provision that if a student has to withdrawal from school at a postsecondary institution because of an illness and that illness is certified by a physician, then that insurance company isn’t allowed to drop their coverage as a dependant,” Anderson said.

After you graduate, or leave your parents’ coverage, learning about health insurance can prove to be a challenge for students. After sorting through insurance companies’ automated phone trees and records for hours, and fighting through the acronyms and insurance jargon, some plans don’t even cover all medical ailments.

Two important acronyms to know in the insurance world are PPO and HMO. A PPO is a preferred provider organization. An HMO is a health maintenance organization. HMO’s need a referral to see a specialist from a primary care physician with which the HMO has a contract. PPO’s allow for more freedom and the patient can choose which doctor they wish to go to, but they are also generally more expensive.

Whether students have an HMO or a PPO, and their health insurance plan, determines where they can go and what the insurance company will pay for in an emergency.

Typically, right out of college many students are finding themselves vulnerable to the high costs of medical treatment.

“Students without health care know the most about it,” Mary McTague, a history major, said.

There are plans that will cover newly graduated and graduate students that typically have a high cost. A Catastrophic plan, the plan that many students get, will usually only cover hospitalization costs up to $10,000. According to RTI Health Solutions, a medical research group, the average cost of hospitalization for one day is about $3,000 to $5,000.

The insurance company doesn’t always cover medical expenses fully. Usually patients pay something out of pocket, whether it be a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. When a student graduates from college, many cannot afford the fees and premiums insurance companies throw at them.

With all the confusing health insurance jargon out there, students would be wise to explore their own health insurance status in order to be more informed about the ongoing health-care debate, not to mention be more aware of their medical options.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 11 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry