Moonshadow_Girl

It was an incredible tragedy. I live in the city where one college roommate beat another to death to death with a third roommate's baseball bat. Anyways, the student that died was taken to a trauma center hospital rather than his in-network hospital because it was closer and is the norm in cases of emergency. The student was still covered under his parents' health insurance plan because he was still a full-time student. After the student died, the trauma hospital, not realizing that the student had coverage, sent the bill to the parents instead of the their insurance. Talk about a backlash on the hospital for their mistake. The parents received the bill just 10 days after their son died from a senseless beating. Even now, I don't think authorities know the complete motive for the beating that lead to the death.

Rete

Errrr, many students have estates. There might well be a large savings account started by the parents and/or grandparents (which I have done for all 3 of my grandchildren since birth) that has an accumulative total of tens of thousands in it earmarked especially for educational purposes.

Rete

True. However, when taken to the ER if the parents were there and the son were unconscious the parents might well have signed the admission form making them liable. Such was the case when my former fiancee was taken to ER with a massive heart attack. He was unconscious but his daughter signed the admitting form and was held liable for the costs incurred even though he died.

Hiro11

If I'm reading these stories correctly, in both cases deliberate decisions were made to go without insurance. Both people were adults who were aware they were taking a risk. I'm not sure it's as simple as blaming the healthcare system for the situation that both people are now in. How would you feel if someone went without car insurance to save some money and then complained when they had a accident?

If you want to talk cost of healthcare in this country, that's another (and much more worthy) debate, but as these stories seem to demonstrate (and in my opinion) access to insurance is at least equally driven by choice as it is by availability.

BritishGuy36

But those kind of students aren't the kind that are without insurance in the first place, are they?

Giantaxe

Wtf is so hard to understand about the statement:

Yes, she chose to go without insurance, not because she particularly wanted to, but because the insurance she could plausibly afford would likely leave her bankrupt anyway in the event of a major claim. That's the big issue for many here: reasonablly comprehensive insurance is just too darned expensive in relation to income for many that are unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise low income. Insurance that's likely going to leave a person bankrupt before it pays a cent simply isn't worthwhile - economically, at least, you might as well use those premium dollars to pay for any needed primary care.

Bottom line is that my daughter will either end up bankrupt or the bills will be written off, with the costs of her treatment being borne by others. I don't see how this is good public policy.

Englishtart

It seems to be pretty common here that students go uninsured, my neighbors daughter was too, she was on a visit home (fortunately) when she got sick, she was taken into hospital and was there for almost 3 weeks with meningitis, she was in ICU for 6 days and almost died. Her medical bills were ridiculously expensive, she had separate bills from practically every specialist that passed her in the halls!

She had to declare bankruptcy

Jerseygirl

It was certainly a concern for us as our daughter came to the end of her uni course...fortunately the start date for her job was before the end of the course so there wasn't a gap. Normally the company's employees aren't eligible for healthcare insurance until they have been with the company for 3 months but they made an exception.

Sally Redux

'We came for a better life for the kids'.

What a ****ing joke.

ionaskye

I do agree with you and my daughter did put it off , trying hard to find an insurance that she could afford ,also she would have a deductable so her argument is well i have to pay the deductable so why spend all that money when i will still have to pay ,
I am a citizen of this country and for the most part positive about it , however in the Uk this would not even be an issue or indeed a worry .A broken ankle would be treated as it was an accident .
i think and have always thought that the in this country is shameful .i have insurance and yes i can say I'm alright to hell with everyone else , I just hope that gets his passed because there is a need for it.

Englishtart

That was nice of them

I consider us to be very lucky with our medical insurance, I'm not sure if we lose it if hubby loses his civ' job, but I think it would still be available to us, just maybe higher co-pay. I'm not really sure of how it all works, don't even know if there is a catastrophic cap? (I know, i'm useless,lol)

I do know that I am grateful that we have it, can't imagine being here without insurance and I really feel bad for everyone struggling with this issue and the loss of employment

Trixie_b

Having no health insurance is very scarey. Both my husband and I were laid off from our individual companies in August - me on Monday - him on Tuesday...

Fortunatly, I was able to start at a new place within 3 weeks and was eligable for health benefits within a month.

To address the issue of health care for students, (please forgive any errors in this, but it was explained to me by my lawyer, and whilst she knows the ins and outs, I don't)
Even if a students is not covered under their Mom and Dad's poilicy, (in California) there is a thing called "resident relative" - which means that a child (even over the age of 18), who primarily lives with parents but is away at school, is a resident relative with the folks and there is a potential that the folks home-owners insurance will cover the cost of any liabilty incurred by the child.
It was explained to me, because my step son who was living with us was driving his truck without insurance (even though we had explicitly requested that he didn't), my lawyer was telling me that even with him being an adult, if he were to be in an accident, we might get a claim on our homeowners insurance.

Rete

Why not? Students are covered under their parents healthcare until age 25 or until they leave school if it is before their 25th birthday. If you are 26 and still in school then you need to have your own private insurance. If you are going for an advanced degree then it is assumed that you have passed the math course that deals with odds and have chosen to foregoing healthcare deliberately.

Englishtart

My neighbours friend was 27 when she got meningitis, she had been doing a teaching degree at the time, I think it was her own choice not to have insurance, but only because she couldn't afford it. Yes, I'm sure she regrets that choice now, but I don't really think she had much choice.

Giantaxe

Reduced to 23 in the case of my insurance. Unfortunately, reducing the age for dependent students is yet another area that companies are attacking in order to contain premium costs.

The math course would also tell you that for many all but catastrophic insurance with a high deductible is likely to be beyond your means. And as I have pointed out that deductible plus the copayments may bankrupt you from a major claim anyway. I'm sure some folks "forego healthcare deliberately", but I'm just as sure many can't plausibly afford the cost of a non-catastrophic comprehensive policy.