Health insurance options under par

Did you know that you can get student health insurance from between $30 to $150 a month?

Up until a few days ago, I didn’t either. As it turns out, UVU students can gain access through an online health insurance distributor called CampusCoverage.com who have a company in almost every state. Our “agent” is Emily Burr, who works essentially as an intermediary between insurance companies and UVU, U of U, BYU and Provo College students. Burr said that she usually gets students who are involved in the intramural sports (UVU has no insurance option offered through CampusCoverage.com for intercollegiate sports) as well as others seeking a new plan, having passed the age limit under their parents’ plan.

But UVU does not have a set, official insurance option to offer students, and while the Wellness Center offers great services for relatively cheap prices, most of UVU’s health services are free programs like ULifeline and HealthQuest designed to do little to provide long-term medical and dental benefits. UVU offers a smoking cessation program, HRA’s (Health Risk Appraisals), health screenings and even a walking group, but there is no student health insurance.

It seems that such a lack of student health insurance is outside of the current college trends. In May, the NEW YORK TIMES reported that twenty percent of college students don’t have health insurance, and elsewhere it has been estimated that thirty percent of colleges (and several states) require students to have health insurance. BYU and U of U both have official health policies, both require students to have health insurance, and both are able to offer plans to students who are unable to stay on their parents’ plan through insurance companies specific to each school.

This is not to complain about what the neighbors are doing or to say that UVU’s student health services are incompetent. But if we want to fully progress towards a university status, in word and in deed, perhaps some higher-ups would do well to question why UVU doesn’t have an official health policy regarding health insurance options for full-time students. Until then, students can feel free to visit the Wellness Center for more information on insurance plans and options through CampusCoverage.com.

For more information on student health insurance at UVU, visit CampusCoverage.com/UVSC or visit the Wellness Center in room SC-221.