The grass is greener
With health care costs so high, many students have cursed the United States for not having some sort of universal health care like Canada. Ries agrees, saying she thinks that all health insurance should be free.
Senior photo illustration major Mark Wicks, who is attending Kent State on a student visa from Canada, says his country’s health care plan doesn’t cover everything.
“We have a basic level of coverage that all Canadians have access to,” Wicks says. “You don't have to apply or pay for it; just because you’re a citizen you have access to it. It is fairly extensive and all the common things are covered: Minor surgeries, broken bones, etc. It will cover some prescriptions, but you'll run into some things that you’ll have to pay for.”
His father is an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Science, and Wicks gets his health insurance through him.
“If I get a job here, then I wouldn’t go back to Canada, but I wouldn’t take a job if they didn’t offer health insurance,” Wicks says.
Having health insurance is mandatory for international students at Kent State. The university considered adopting a requirement for all students to have health insurance, but rising tuition costs and students who couldn’t afford health insurance were factors in keeping the policy the same.
About 25 percent of public colleges require students to have health insurance plans, according to an article on CNN.com in February. All public universities in Idaho, Montana, New Jersey and Massachusetts require insurance.
Students who don’t have health insurance say they don’t think they could manage without health insurance forever.
“I would really like to have insurance,” Welch says. “Both my husband and I were in the hospital, and I think that I need it. Neither of us have any serious continuing medical problems at the moment, but things happen.”
After Watson’s experience, she wants students to know that they aren’t alone.
“There is help out there,” she says. “Medical bills are the most forgiving of all debts; you can actually work out plans with doctors and hospitals to make monthly payments. Medical debt is more forgiving than credit card debt. But it’s also the most ridiculous type of debt because it is so easy to rack up medical bills. Insurance (companies) can negotiate outrageous prices with doctors and say that we are going to pay that, but people without insurance can’t do that.”
As this May’s graduating class loses coverage from their parents and hopes to find health insurance refuge with employers, consider this: You may be lucky enough to find a job but not the benefits. According to familiesusa.org, of the 27.8 percent of Ohio’s population that does not have health insurance, 76.2 percent are employed.
More and more students now are learning about health insurance and its importance, Lebron says. The trend is moving toward more and more people having to take care of their own health benefits, especially in the next 10 to 15 years. They will need to learn how to shop for insurance and benefits.
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