Student Medical Insurance
Student Medical Insurance a Problem in Today's Changing College World
Many of today's college students are running into something of a major problem in terms of their medical insurance coverage. For the majority of students, which head off to college directly after high school and have no means of acquiring their own coverage, the idea is to stay on mom and dad's bill until college is over. What some of them are finding out in the course of their college career, however, is that this is easier said than done in many instances. Certain problems are popping up, causing students and parents alike to reconsider their plan on student medical insurance.
Medical insurance plans can be expensive, and they can be difficult to acquire and maintain for people with limited financial resources. Because of this, and the fact that it is in the best interest of everyone involved for kids in college to have medical coverage, certain allowances have been made to allow students to stay on their parents' bill while they are still pursuing a degree. If parents work for the state or happen to have a comprehensive insurance plan, college-aged children are typically covered just as completely as they were when they lived at home during high school. The catch here is that student medical insurance is only available for those students who are actively pursuing a degree.
Why is this such a big deal, you ask? It is because a large portion of students these days are not going after a traditional college degree track. Statistics show that the average college degree is earned in five years now, instead of the four years it used to take. The reason for this is that students are doing other things. They are working, taking time off, going out of the country, and pursuing other big experiences along the way. For some students, the burden of carrying a full class load for nine or ten consecutive semesters seems like something too tough to tangle with.
Student medical insurance for kids on their parents' bill goes away when students step out of a full time school load for even a semester. For students to qualify for the expemption, they have to be enrolled full time. At most universities, this means that the student must take 12 credit hours. Though this does not seem like too much to ask, students are finding themselves in quite a bit of trouble if they have 12 hours scheduled and need to drop one of the classes. In many cases, kids are being asked to choose between failing a course and being dropped off of their parents' medical insurance plan.
On top of that is the sticky situation for those who graduate and want to pursue graduate school. Though students are able to stay on their parents' medical plan while they are in graduate school, if they take even a semester off between undergraduate school and graduate school, they find themselves out of luck. For this reason, it makes more financial sense for some students to stick around and take a few hours, rather than getting out quickly and trying to prepare for impending graduate school.
Solutions are being considered and worked out to help fight this problem. The realities of college don't mesh with the rules of today, and responsible students and parents are the ones who are paying the price.