Changes for Student Health Insurance

By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press
01/04/2006

CONCORD, N.H. -- In the months before colon cancer took her life, aspiring teacher Michelle Morse attended Plymouth State University in Plymouth, N.H., full time, often wearing a chemotherapy pump on her hip to class or when she did her student teaching.

To remain covered under her mother's health insurance, Morse had to either maintain a full course load or pay about $550 a month. She chose the former, even though her doctors urged her to cut back.

"I'm scared for my mom and dad," she wrote in her journal in December 2003, just after she was diagnosed. "I want to make this easier on them."

By the time she died in November at age 22, Morse had become a reluctant celebrity, lending her name to a bill aimed at sparing others the tough decision she faced.

"Michelle's Law" would require health insurance companies that cover college students under their parents' plans to continue the coverage if a student takes a medical leave of absence.

Morse's mother, AnnMarie Morse, has become the driving force behind the legislation. "I have a lot of energy," she said in a recent interview. "I knew the odds were against us ... but I knew I had to do something else."

A New Hampshire House committee unanimously recommended the bill in November, and the full House will vote on it today.

Other states have taken a broader approach by allowing young adults to remain on their parents' plans longer, regardless of whether they are in college.

Those laws are aimed at addressing the nation's fastest-growing uninsured population: young people ages 18 to 24, said Laura Tobler, a health policy analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Thirty percent of Americans in that age group had no health insurance in 2003, according to a report issued in December by the National Center for Health Statistics. Many young people work only part-time or have jobs that do not offer coverage.

Children typically lose health care coverage under their parents' plans when they turn 19, though full-time students often are given an exception. But in the past year, at least 12 states have considered or enacted laws broadening coverage of college-age dependents, Tobler said.

Starting Jan. 1, Colorado residents up to age 25 can be covered under their parents' plans as long as they are unmarried, financially dependent on their parents or living with them.

New York, which already has a law like the one proposed in New Hampshire, is considering raising the maximum age for dependents from 23 to 25. A New Jersey bill would allow dependents up to age 30 to remain on their parents' plans, though companies could charge more for such coverage.

Delaware does not have such a law, but Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn said he supports introduction of one in the upcoming session of the General Assembly.

Such laws will not solve the larger problem but are a good stopgap measure, said Trudy Lieberman, director of the Center for Consumer Health Choices at Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine.

"For people who are betwixt and between jobs and school, until we have a more inclusive system, this is an OK thing to do," she said.

The insurance industry generally hasn't opposed such changes because, aside from expensive cases like Morse's, carriers are getting paid higher family-plan premiums to cover the healthiest segment of the population, said New Hampshire state Rep. Will Infantine, an insurance agent who sponsored the New Hampshire bill.

"Demographically, this is a profitable part of their business," he said.

Realizing that the nature of higher education has changed, many insurance plans are allowing college students to remain on their parents' plans longer, said Larry Akey, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans. Students are taking longer to complete their college educations and are increasingly pursuing advanced degrees.

But, he said, the insurance industry has sought to limit the definition of dependents to students or those who are financially dependent on their parents, because opening the definition too widely would result in increases premiums.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Insurance Q&A Blog Homepage- http://insureqa.blogspot.com/

To have your questions or comments addressed send them to insureqa@hotmail.com

To buy a text link on Insurance Q&A Blog, Click Here http://insureqa.blogspot.com/2005/10/buy-text-link-from-insurance-q.html