Mandated insurance for students not worth cost

TO THE EDITOR:

I disagree with the Board of Governors’ decision requiring all students to purchase health coverage.

The simple fact is that many students simply do not need health insurance. Rarely does a student suffer from a catastrophic injury or debilitating illness (for example, despite thousands of people who attended the riotous NCAA championship celebration last year, only a few needed medical treatment due to injury).

The reason insurance premiums are lower for men and women in their teens and early twenties than older folks is that insurance providers know that they are at significantly lower risk for injury or disease and are statistically much less likely to use medical services. Those students who do suffer from a chronic illness or recurring injury are likely to already have an insurance plan in place.

This University plan amounts to a windfall for the insurance company who provide these “low-cost” insurance plans by providing them with a supply of customers they would not otherwise have had while forcing healthy students to incur more debt (approximately $2,400 over a four-year period).

If a student does not like the services provided, co-pay amount or geographic coverage of the University plan, they or their parents will be forced to purchase a higher-cost outside insurance plan.

Currently, parents and students have the liberty to determine if the costs outweigh the benefits of having a health insurance plan. Now, the school will force each parent or student to buy a plan, regardless of need and desire.


Evan Bolick
Graduate Student
School of Law