Health insurance a requirement for more college students

If students do not prove they have insurance or adequate health insurance, the university automatically charges their semester bill for a 3rd party health plan...BD

An infection that popped a blood vessel in Jamie Hedrick's throat sent her to the emergency room and left a $5,000 bill. It took two days of vicious food poisoning symptoms for Phil Phelps to call a doctor - a friend's father who would see him for free. The local residents are part of a group that sometimes gets overlooked in the national health care debate: college students with limited or no health insurance. Joining a national trend, some local colleges are requiring students to prove they have insurance before starting classes or the colleges are beefing up coverage mandates. University leaders say it's for the well-being of students. But the move also helps keep students in school, preventing them from dropping out because of a medical debt. Some schools also are negotiating with third-party insurance companies by asking them to cover parts of colleges' internal health service costs - saving the schools money and, college officials say, keeping those fees lower in students' tuition bills.

Kettering University is at the forefront of the trend locally. This is the first year Kettering is enforcing a requirement that all students prove they have adequate insurance. Otherwise, the university automatically charges $492 to their semester bill for a third-party health plan.

Health insurance a requirement for more college students- mlive.com