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NEWS WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
Close call
Spencer Walsh/KANSAN
A car crashed into a vacant apartment on 7th and Comet Ln., early Tuesday morning. Shawn Hough, a Lawrence native and neighbor to the damaged apartment, said he was sitting at his computer in his room when he heard the loud bang. "If he had crushed five feet over," Hough said, "he would have hit me." The driver, a male in his 20s, allegedly had a seizure while driving. Hough responded to the crash and turned off the ignition of the car. He said that the airbag not deployed and that the man was not wearing his seatbelt, but that there was no blood. "The guy wasn't responding at all, but he was in and out of being awake," Hough said. According to an employee for the property manager, police responded to the scene in about five minutes.
- 24 hour fitness center
- Sparkling pool & hot tub
- Fully furnished
- Sand volleyball court
- Basketball court
- Free tanning
- 24 hour computer lab
- Free movie rentals
- On KU bus route
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*some restrictions apply
Health bill benefits students
LEGISLATION
Photo illustration by Tanner Grubbs/KANSAN
New insurance laws allow some students to stay on parents' plan
Students who face unexpected medical costs without health insurance can face years of debt to health care providers. New health insurance plans and most old plans will be required to allow children to stay on their parents' plans until age 26 starting in July - good news for students who would not be covered under their parents' plans after graduation.
BY SAMANTHA FOSTER sfoster@kansan.com
John Brown was hopping a curb on his bike on campus in 2007 when the front wheel came unhinged and he fell on his face. He couldn't stop the bleeding by
For some, the cost of an emergency-room visit wouldn't have been a problem. But Brown, a junior from Lee's Summit, Mo., didn't have health insurance.
his eye and had to go to the emergency room for seven stitches.
plans until age 26.
"It cost $1,500 for just a few stitches." Brown said.
Diana Malott, assistant director of Student Health Services, said she expected fewer students to need health insurance through the University after this legislation goes into effect and students can stay on their parents' plans longer. But she
New federal legislation passed in March is meant to keep students like Brown from facing unexpected medical problems without health insurance. And beginning in July, new health care plans and most old plans will be required to allow children to stay on their parents'
"It cost $1,500 for just a few stitches."
Because Brown didn't have health insurance, he had to set up a payment plan with the hospital. He said he had to start off with small payments of $20 a month. As long as he made regular payments, the hospital didn't bug him about it. He eventually made larger payments, and a year after the accident he paid off the debt.
JOHN BROWN Lee's Summit junior
said she and other administrators at Student Health Services were still uncertain about how the legislation would change student health plans.
Malott said more than 2,800 students at the University were enrolled in the Board of Regents' student health care plan. Many of these are international students, who are required to have health insurance, and GTAs or GRAs, who have subsidized premiums because of their employment with the University. Others are undergraduates who are no longer covered by their parents' plans.
Malott said many students were young and healthy so they saw health insurance as a luxury or didn't think about it at all, even if they lost coverage.
"We don't see it as a luxury," Malott said. "It's great to be uncovered — until you need it."
Sally Strnad, a senior from
Munden, will lose coverage under her parents' plan when she turns 23 after graduation, but she will still be a student because she's in a five-year music therapy program. Strnad decided to purchase a health insurance plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield, her parents' provider. Even with the new legislation, she will not retain coverage under her parents' plan.
Strnad said the plan she purchased cost more than $90 per month. Dental coverage cost $2 more, but Strnad said the insurance cut into her budget anyway so she only purchased health coverage. Even with the expense, she said she never considered going without insurance.
"I knew I'd be having an internship around people." Strnad said. "I didn't think it would be a good idea to go without health insurance."
Malott said the annual premium for the Regents' student health insurance plan was $915 this year. In August the premium will probably increase to $987, but that won't be finalized until the committee meets in early May. She said the committee encouraged the vendor, United Health Care, to keep the premium under $1,000 a year so it would be affordable to students. Although she said she knew it didn't sound like a small amount to students, Malott said the plan had benefits comparable to employer plans that would cost between $500 and $700 a month.
*based on a 28-person participation
The Regents' student insurance plan covers up to $100,000 per injury or accident. The insurance company pays 80 percent of costs and the student is responsible for 20 percent. If a student receives care at Watkins Memorial Health Center, the plan pays 100 percent of the cost except in the pharmacy and for some services, such as X-rays.
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Malott said she felt that every student should have health insurance because unexpected health care expenses could cause students to drop out of college or take out large student loans.
"It doesn't take very long until you can have an astronomical health care bill," Malott said. "There's just no way that the average person, and certainly not the average student, can fund that kind of unexpected expense without getting very seriously into bankruptcy or a financial hole that they'll be years digging out of"
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