Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Brittan Young has daily visions of her fiancée wrecking his scooter. Her fiancée, Lawrence Henderson, doesn’t have health insurance and doesn’t wear a helmet when he rides. Young said she was afraid for Henderson’s safety and for expensive medical bills should he get in an accident.
Young, Overland Park senior, said she was also scared for herself. She said that when she graduates in December, she will no longer be covered by her parents’ health insurance and that she was worried she wouldn’t be able to find a job that offered health insurance given the state of the economy.
Gaps in health insurance for graduates are common. According to a 2006 study by the Commonwealth Fund, which is a private research foundation, one third of college graduates don’t have health insurance after graduation. Thirteen percent are uninsured for six months or more.
Being uninsured can lead to dire financial circumstances.
“It takes one hospital stay to be overwhelmingly in debt,” Cynthia Price, a publications writer at the Kansas Insurance Department, said.
Henderson, Lansing law student, said he wanted to weigh the risks for himself.
“It is truly a gamble both ways — paying for insurance you don’t need or not having insurance you do need — and you have to do a cost benefit analysis,” Henderson said.
College graduates are at an age when they are at risk for expensive maladies. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is rising among young adults. From 2005 to 2006 obesity in young adults grew to 24 percent. Obesity is associated with some types of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. The National Center for Health Statistics found in a 2007 study that injury-related emergency room visits were most common in young adults.
The Commonwealth Fund’s Health Insurance Survey done in 2007 found two thirds of young adults who did not have health insurance said they had skipped needed health care because they weren’t covered.
Price said that recent graduates without health insurance could get temporary health insurance to cover the gap between graduation and when employer’s insurance began.
“Consider what happens if you have a bad year,” Price said, “and examine how much risk you can manage.”
Price said most college graduates could find high deductible plans with low premiums, deductibles being the portion of a health charge not covered by the insurance and premiums being the charge, usually monthly, for the insurance itself.
The Alumni Association offers a short-term health insurance for graduates called GradMed. With GradMed, graduates pay a $500 or $1,000 deductible before GradMed pays anything. GradMed is not offered to pregnant women.
Henderson said he was comfortable with not having health insurance.
“There has been little risk to me up to now,” Henderson said. “Had something horrible happened, I would have still received emergency medical treatment provided by a hospital, and if worst came to worst, I would have filed for bankruptcy to discharge the debt. I’ve always had a plan.”
However, he said Young had been pressuring him to get health insurance. Henderson said one of his options was health insurance offered by the Kansas Board of Regents. At $917 a year, the insurance covers all health charges at student health centers, Diana Malott, assistant director of student health services, said.
The Regents service is only offered for current students, but if December graduates had purchased the insurance to last until May, then the insurance would cover past graduation.
— — Edited by Ross Stewart
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