Got Health Insurance?

I was speaking with a fellow student recently about their health insurance debacle while in the waiting room at University Health Services. They had been on their dad's group health insurance plan in California, but the plan only covered emergency services outside California, so simple doctor's visits, which they had taken for granted their whole life, were not covered here in Pennsylvania. Since Penn State only requires health insurance for international students (at the time of this writing), they never gave the issue a second thought and only discovered the lack of coverage after it was too late. Suffering from frequent headaches, the student learned that they had a low-grade brain tumor. It was operable and not considered an "emergency service" by the insurance company so the procedure and follow-ups were not covered in Pennsylvania, forcing the student to return to California and take a leave of absence from school.

My dad is a health insurance salesman so I was a bit caught off guard by the student's lack of understanding of their health coverage (I guess a car mechanic's son might feel the same way about the fact that my "Check Engine Soon" light has been on for months and I haven't done anything about it). Thinking that I might drum up some business for my dad, I started asking students that I knew from California, where my dad is licensed, if they knew what kind of insurance coverage they had. I got mixed results and discovered that more students than I expected actually did know what kind of coverage their health policy offered them out of state. Many students had opted for the university's health plan at their parent's urging and some students had chosen to sign up for a student health insurance policy.

I think a lot of colleges require that their students have health insurance precisely to avoid the problems faced by my waiting room companion—not a brain tumor, but the leave of absence. I find it interesting that Penn State only has mandatory health insurance guidelines for international students and offers vague and suspicious reasoning for it

(see: #2 under http://www.sa.psu.edu/uhs/internationalstudents/mandatoryinsurance.cfm#questions)

I guess a lot of it has to do with international students not being eligible for federal assistance programs, but the fact of the matter is, neither are most domestic students because most likely their parents make too much money or their current health coverage disqualifies them from receiving assistance.

My dad is an independent agent so he's not eligible for a group plan. I've always been covered under the family health insurance policy my dad set up for us years ago, but when I started college my parents decided it was time for me to bare the responsibility for the costs since they were paying for school. My dad suggested I look for a student health insurance policy in Pennsylvania because it would provide the best coverage for the price tag at this point in my life. Neither of the companies he sells insurance for offered student health insurance outside of California, so he pointed me to Health Insurance Finders where he gets a lot of his business from and I was able to find a great policy that I could afford. Incidentally I found a lot of useful information about other insurance types on the site and shared them here.

There is really no excuse to be without health insurance, especially when you consider the cost of medical treatments like surgeries on top of the unforeseen costs of having to withdrawal from school and postpone graduation. I have a lot of friends who take the attitude of "Well, I'm healthy and don't get sick," and I always point out that a lot of times it's not about getting sick, but about unforeseen accidents like car accidents, sports injuries, and the occasional drunken mishap. These are the types of incidents that can cost thousands of dollars to treat. I know that not every student is fortunate enough to be insured under their parent's insurance, but there are plenty of sources and types of health insurance available. The student plan with Penn State is a decent plan, but there are maximum benefits of only $50,000 per injury or illness, which probably wouldn't have covered the surgery and follow-up on a brain tumor (I didn't ask how much the medical bills were for that one, but it cost me $7,000 just to treat a broken foot when I was in high school).

The bottom line is health insurance is something you are going to have to worry about for the rest of your life, so you might as well start now.

You should check out...

  • Pennsylvania Health Insurance - If you are a Penn State student and you're not opting for the university's plan and you aren't covered under another plan, you should be looking for health insurance in this state.
  • Pennsylvania Department of Insurance - a great resources for questions about your insurance rights and other useful information.