Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Rebecca Goldberg, Dallas graduate, faces two surgeries and a gap in her health insurance.
“My job doesn’t insure me until I have been employed there a month,” Goldberg said. “And my parents insurance drops me the first day of employment.”
Goldberg said she thought she was safe because she had employment lined up after graduation. She did not know there would be a gap in her coverage. Goldberg said she could not afford complications from her surgeries this summer as the financial burden would be too much.
Bob Tomlinson, deputy commissioner for the Kansas Department of Insurance, said insurance companies drop students from their parents’ policies anywhere between the ages of 22 and 24, but some as low as 21.
Mike Davis , senior vice president of the Alumni Association, said the main reason the Alumni Association provides health insurance to graduates is because many graduates are going off of their parents insurance.
“They think nothing is going to happen,” Davis said, “then something does and they are out ten or 12,000 dollars.”
Tomlinson said he would like to see graduates taking interest in both their health insurance and their health.
Many students’ lack of insurance may be caused by what Tomlinson called “underemployment”.
Students facing a lack of immediate employment are not able to find their ideal jobs after graduation. These students often face a lack of health coverage, Tomlinson said.
Though Tomlinson said the department would like to have incentive programs for these employers to provide health care, he said he was unable to mandate employers to provide health care because the mandate would cause employers to simply eliminate jobs without provided health care.
Mai Do, marketing coordinator for Student Health Services, said that health insurance is not high on the list of priorities for KU graduates.
“Most students are covered under their parents’ insurance so not a lot of people have to think about it,” Do said.
Do said that recent graduates should think ahead about their insurance coverage.
“It should be something they look ahead for,” Do said. “Not something they look for on an ‘as needed’ basis.”
Jessica Studin, Alabama graduate, will attend the University of Georgia in the fall for her graduate degree. Studin said she thought she was still covered as a full-time student under her parents’ policy but she said she was unsure of her coverage because her parents handled her insurance.
University of Kansas students have the option of receiving health insurance through the University for the duration of their time spent at school. The health coverage, underwritten by MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, is available through Watkins Memorial Health Center, east of Robinson Center.
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