Affordable insurance, stat!

BY TAMMY JARVIS
MESA LEGEND
Submitted January 23, 2001

Tuition, books, rent, car payments, fun – the list is endless. College students have many destinations for their money and health insurance is often the last thing on their list. Unfortunately, the last thing on their list can be the first thing to put them at financial risk.

"I had to switch to part-time so that I could go to school," MCC student Carrie Lacross said. "I didn’t care that they didn’t offer insurance, I was just trying to find a job that fit my schedule."

Soon after starting college in the fall of 1998, Lacross began to feel sharp pains in her lower right abdomen. On Halloween, she was forced to undergo an emergency appendectomy.

Lacross never finished the semester, and instead of going to school in the spring, she had to work two jobs in an attempt to pay the $43,000 in bills she incurred during her surgery and two-day hospital stay.

According to Lacross, "After almost two years of working two jobs, I was forced to file for bankruptcy."

In Arizona, it is against the law to drive a car without insurance, so why is it that approximately 22 percent of Arizona residents ages 20-30 fail to insure their own health?

"It is possible that many young people become accustomed to being covered under their parents," said Farmers Insurance agent Jim Hinkle. "When they are no longer eligible because of their age, it doesn’t occur to them that they may need to get insurance on their own."

Another problem is that, like Lacross, most college students are only able to work part-time and few employers offer insurrance to part-time workers.

However, the biggest obstacle standing in the way of students getting health insurance is the high cost. Insurance companies are interested in selling plans to businesses, not people.

Therefore, personalized individual plans tend to be very expensive. As previously stated, college students don’t have an abundance of funds to commit anywhere besides school and books.

An insurance company offering an affordable plan geared toward college students would certainly see their business thrive, especially in the Valley. Unfortunately, there are very few.

"College students are quite an untapped market," according to Jim Kriznauski, a State Farm agent.

There aren’t many, but MCC students are not completely without options for health insurance.

Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company offers a student accident and sickness plan designed especially for Maricopa Community Colleges.

At $45 a month, it is less expensive than any other individual plan on the market. Students are expected to pay a lump sum of $270 at the beginning of the spring semester and they are covered until Aug. 1.

For doctor’s visits, they covered 80 percent of the cost.

However, for emergencies and accidents, they only cover $1,500 for the first-day hospital stay and $750 everyday after that, with $10,000 as a maximum.

The average cost for a three-day hospital stay is around $60,000.

ASU students are offered an insurance plan through United Health Care; doctor visits are free at the student health center located on campus.

For specialists and lab work, there is a $10 co-pay and a $75 co-pay for emergencies unless admitted to the hospital, in which case United Health Care covers 100 percent up to $150,000. For that plan, ASU students pay $65 a month.