What's Health Care Got to Do With It?

After I graduated from college, I suffered an appendicitis attack.

You want to talk about pain? It was pure agony.

When the illness hit, I was in a car on the way from New York to Chicago. My companions were my buddy from high school and my college fiancé.

We had answered newspaper want-ads to arrange a “drive-away” vehicle -- a big, swanky Oldsmobile, if I recall correctly. The owner, a middle-aged man from Long Island, had paid us to deliver his ride to some address in the suburbs of Chicago, while he moved the rest of his household by van. I do not know if there are still such deals to be made for “drive-away” cars today.

By midnight, we were somewhere on the Pennsylvania tollway. My buddy was sharing the driving with my fiancé. I was doubled up in the back seat.

We continued through Ohio and Indiana and rolled into Chicago at dawn.

I directed them to the hospital on the North Side where my family doctor had his practice. When they wheeled me into the emergency room, I was passing in-and-out of consciousness from the relentless, stabbing spasms.

But I recall that my health insurance, from college, covered my expenses.

My student health insurance policy included the summer after graduation. Two days later and I would have been out of luck. It seems unbelievable.

Yet that same kind of health insurance could be provided to Shepherd students in the not-too-distant future.

Now, according to Registered Nurse Ardyth Gilbertson, director of student health services, a student at Shepherd who came to the student health clinic in Gardiner Hall with appendicitis would be sent to a nearby hospital.

By e-mail, Gilbertson noted that the campus clinic provides “ambulatory care.” For any condition requiring more treatment, all hospital and doctor’s bills would be the responsibility of the student or the student’s family.

‘I can’t think of a better reason for health care reform,” Gilberston stated.

A recent article in Business Week reported that more than 5 million college students are not covered by their parents’ insurance plan.

Yet help may be on the way, whether the government passes new legislation or not. There are plans in the works to provide a health care option to Shepherd students, available for a reasonable cost and covering basic needs.

In a telephone interview, Sharon Kipetz, vice president for student affairs, said that Shepherd students may soon be able to enroll for health insurance. International students and uninsured Shepherd students who travel abroad would be required to sign up for the policy. For others, it would be optional.

Kipetz said that she has been advocating for student health insurance for years, without success. The new plans now being developed are based on a shift from a “catastrophic” approach to a “wellness” model of coverage.

The policies would run from August to August. Even if a student dropped out of school, the health insurance would still be valid for the duration of the school year. Students graduating in May would be covered through the summer. Similar policies are in place at other campuses, Kipetz noted.

“No one should have to be in a position to need health care, and then worry over how to pay,” Gilbertson added. “I look forward to a time when we will be able to offer a plan to students.”

Many, perhaps most students already have coverage under their family insurance plans. They do not need to worry, but should be aware.

Before accepting the insurance plan, you should be sure it is not a rip-off. The Business Weekly article gives some tips online: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_20/b4084041503239.htm

But no matter how well you are, no matter how lucky you have been, you never know when appendicitis, or whatever, may strike.

If The Picket does not demand adequate health insurance for all Shepherd students, who will?