Health care for Hoosiers

The presence of IU in Bloomington is impossible to ignore. When college students return to campus in September, they bring noise, traffic, longer waits at restaurants and money.

Our economic impact here is essential to the health of the local economy.
IU is one of Bloomington’s largest employers, so when it comes to health care, IU is the provider for a large part of the community.

It seems that the University community, a disproportionately educated and comparatively socioeconomically privileged group, should have some impact on the general nature of health care in Bloomington.

This phenomenon has been noted at other similar sized campuses in the Midwest.
The effect of the University of Michigan on Ann Arbor’s health care has been noted by Marianne Gosz Klinker of the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

She told US News and World Report that “we have great health care in the city because of the university health care system.”

But the students in Bloomington, an obviously essential population to the University, do not seem to reap the benefits of health care bolstered by the school.

Students without access to health care may buy into a voluntary health insurance plan provided by Aetna student insurance.

As this goes to press, the number of students who use this plan remains unclear – there is only one policy group, and the premiums are nearly prohibitive to the average student.

The nature of the plan seems to assume that students will remain on their parents’ insurance, using the Aetna plan only as a temporary worst-case scenario option. 

The student plan has premiums whose cost far exceeds those of the faculty plan.
While students pay approximately $1,800 annually for an individual and $7,700 for a family, faculty and staff only fork up about $60 a year, according to IU’s University Human Resource Services Web site.

It’s true that differences in deductible and coverage explain some portion of this cost differential. However, the coverage provided by the student plan seems tailored to avoid ever paying out.

While eye exams, glasses and regular dental care – perhaps the most predictable health needs of college students – are conspicuously not included in the insurance plan, less likely needs such as prosthetic limbs and glass eyes are covered.

We all want insurance to cover worst-case scenario needs, but this insurance plan leaves out the essential health needs of the college student.

In comparison with the plans available to University staff and faculty, the insurance available to students falls short.

Because the faculty policy groups are larger, risk is more diversified and the insurance plan is less expensive to each individual.

The plan, provided through Anthem (Blue Cross Blue Shield), does not exclude based on pre-existing conditions, an important element of Obama’s hopes for pending reform legislation.

The fact that this group plan can implement non-exclusion policies for pre-existing conditions while maintaining reasonable premium and deductible costs is encouraging for supporters of wider coverage. 

In contrast to this, the Aetna student plan does not cover pre-existing conditions.
The Anthem plan also covers yearly eye exams, elder care counseling and additionally has significantly more affordable coverage for spouses and children as opposed to the student plan.

These benefits, along with the plan’s progressive policy on pre-existing conditions, should also be extended to IU students.

Gov. Mitch Daniels wrote in a letter this week that he is concerned about the costs that will fall to states if certain potential changes unfold in the health care system.
We worry that if every American is required to find insurance coverage, many IU students could end up with some version of a sub-par student plan such as Aetna’s.

Even a minimal amount of students signing on to a plan accessible to all IU affiliates could greatly increase the viability of the health care plan IU currently offers.

We should consider the option of extending existing, affordable and functional plans to groups in close proximity to those plans as we all grapple with the possibility of making significant changes in the way health care is distributed and paid for in our country and community.

As young people, IU students should not cost more to insure than the rest of the employed IU community.