College Students Scramble For Health Plans

Copyright 2008 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.All Rights Reserved St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)

August 13, 2008 Wednesday FIRST EDITION

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1

LENGTH: 623 words

HEADLINE: College students scramble for health plans

BYLINE: MARY JO FELDSTEIN

E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314-340-8209

Reading outside Kaldi's Coffeehouse in Clayton's DeMun neighborhood, Cait Murphy looks like the stereotypical archetype of a young twenty-something. Her short hair is pulled into hip pigtails. Her rosy cheeks frame a couple of piercings.

Murphy, 22, shares another trait with many of her contemporaries: She worries about health insurance.

"It's definitely a topic of conversation that comes up a lot among my friends," said Murphy, who lost coverage about 18 months ago, after she started taking fewer classes.

One of Murphy's best friends moved back in with her parents so she could afford health insurance and multiple prescriptions. Another passed on a job offer because it didn't provide health benefits.

About 20 percent of college students ages 18 to 23 were uninsured in 2006, the most recent year available, compared to about 16 percent of all Americans. And, many of those students with health insurance face a more precarious situation than the average person with employer-sponsored coverage.

Some lose coverage because they choose out-of-state schools. Others, like Murphy, take classes part time, so they no longer qualify for their parents' plans. Still others struggle to find "in-network" providers far from home. Many insurers won't cover care at a student health center.

Murphy lightened her courseload at the University of Oregon in March 2007 for financial reasons. No longer a full-time student, Murphy thought the coverage under her parents' plan would cease. Rather than know for sure, Murphy decided to take a risk.

Then the price of her asthma medication jumped to $150. Her parents' insurer had cut off coverage. Murphy shopped around, found the medication for $100 and starting seeing doctors at the university's student health center.

Murphy graduated a couple of months ago. She's working two part-time jobs, but neither offers insurance. She's considering returning to school for a master's degree. Whether she would have insurance will factor in her decision. Even as a full-time student, her parents' plan could end coverage as early as age 23.

Some students without coverage from home choose an individual plan. They can face high deductibles and low maximum benefit amounts.

As more colleges require students to have coverage, many students are buying inexpensive plans without regard for the details. More than half of colleges nationwide offered student insurance plans last year, according to a Government Accountability Office report released in March.

Murphy considered one offered by her alumni association, but it was too expensive. Costs and benefits for individual plans vary widely. Annual premiums range from $30 to $2,400. Maximum benefits range from $2,500 for each illness or injury to unlimited coverage.

Alan Sager, a health policy expert at Boston University, said limits of a few thousand dollars are too low. "It's so easy for a tragic accident or severe illness to ramp up a $100,000, $200,000 or $500,000 bill," Sager said.

The Sentry Student Security Plan offers Missouri students under 24 coverage for $22 a month. The maximum benefit is $10,000 for each illness or injury.

Jacqueline Smith, who sells the plan, said many students are looking for the least-expensive plan they can find. "For people who are young and in school and hardly ever need to go to the doctor, that's fine," said Smith, of E.J. Smith & Associates outside of Chicago.

Rather than gamble with medical bankruptcy from a car accident or cancer diagnosis, another option would be a plan with generous catastrophic coverage and a higher deductible.

With no coverage at all, Murphy knows she's playing a game of medical roulette.

"What if something were to happen?" she said.

NOTES: • MONEY & MEDICINE

LOAD-DATE: August 13, 2008