A Student’s Perspective on the Health Care Debate
This past April, I was diagnosed with Infectious Mononucleosis. And let me tell you, it’s no fun. Unfortunately, my case of mono was incredibly bad, and I developed hepatitis (hepatitis means inflammation of the liver; I do not have one of the life-long diseases like A, B, or C). This was an incredibly painful event for me—my liver stopped producing bile, and I could not digest food. When I ate, I would vomit the food up, 15 hours later, completely undigested. My urine was dark, dark yellow. My skin itched everywhere. My stomach swelled up and was painful in any position. I lost 12 pounds in one week. And all of this was during finals; I took them, but blacked out during one, and had to go to the student health center to get on an IV.
During all of this, I was seeing my doctor at the health center once a week, and getting blood tests all of the time. This wasn’t a choice for me—they were necessary to monitor the condition of my liver and to see if hospitalization would be required. I lost count, although I think I got up to 8 or 9 different blood tests.
The health center was wonderful for this throughout my entire sickness—the staff was kind, my doctor was kind, and, best of all, my student health fee paid for all of it. Right?
Not exactly. My student health fee paid for the visits. Here’s what it didn’t pay for:
All of that was billed to my insurance. As I am a college student with demonstrably good grades and full-time enrollment, I am still on my parents’ insurance plan. However, all of my health fees were either part of my deductible or were, for reasons I do not understand, flat-out denied. The charges were returned to the health center, who, in turn, placed a more than $500 charge to my student account. If that goes unpaid past the end of July, I get a financial hold placed on my student account that prevents me from doing any business with the University until my fees are paid.
I’m lucky. I don’t have $500, but I have parents who can help. And even if they don’t help me, that money can conceivably come out of my scholarship this August. But what if I weren’t so lucky? What if I didn’t have $500, I didn’t have parents who could help, and I didn’t have a big scholarship? And what if I were maxed-out on loans and scraping to pull by as is? This could seemingly terminate my career as a student.
I did not abuse the health center—I didn’t ask for mono (and have no idea how I got it), and I certainly didn’t seek out hepatitis. There were points in my sickness when I honestly feared dying. I did what I could, and got healthy again. But my charges caught up with me in a way that could end up with me not being able to register for classes or reap any benefit from my education.
This whole incident has me outraged. I have never understood the idea of a copay—don’t we already pay insurance so we don’t have to pay at the doctor? Isn’t the idea of insurance to insure that we will be safe during time of sickness? A conservative once explained to me that the copay was to make sure that you don’t abuse your insurance, and that it is highly desirable for people as young as me, because we hardly ever have health issues, and a high copay with limited care is the most cost-effective option for me.
Well, I sure as hell can’t pay my charge. And what’s even more ironic is that the disease that could very well end up derailing my educational career I almost certainly caught in my residence hall. It’s time to fix the system.
5 comments
damn, sorry to hear about that shit! i had mono once, during an important art competition, and it suckkkkkkkkked. and that would be an understatement.
….you ever wonder if the universities sometimes set students up to financially fail? because sometimes, it sure as hell seems that way.
Sounds like you got a hell of a deal! Any idea what doctors make? Think of all the work that went into your drugs and tests. I think you should be grateful and not expect the government to pay your way. You already get free tuition. One day you will pay taxes and understand, until then quit your bitchin.
Glad you are better.
Whoa, I am really glad you shared this and certainly excited that you are still among the living. I know that it faced with the same situation, I couldn’t pay because my Dad lost our insurance after 30+ years in a factory rendered him disabled and Medicare is a horribly broken situation. We get by, so far, but I know I am one broken bone or one scary brush with an infection away from ending college.
Anyways, here’s hoping the best for you (and your liver)!
@Jim Smith is what happens when ideology trumps common sense, pragmatism, empathy. The amount of waste incurred by both you, Jon, and the health care system that took care of you during this is a travesty. What a silly little charade it really is to not be able to admit that we could be doing things better. If Singapore can why can’t we? I highly recommend taking a look at what Singapore does btw. They spend 3.7% of GDP on healthcare compared to our 15% and get vastly better care in the process. ~10% of our GDP is spent needlessly on a broken system. I pay taxes but that doesn’t help me understand why we waste so much money. Nobody is asking to government to pay for the entire population’s health care. Conservatives continue to refuse to realize that they’re already literally paying out of their own pockets when one of the 40 million people who doesn’t have health care goes to the hospital. Those bills are payed by increased premiums, taxes and an inflationary health care system. I vote we put @Jim Smith at the gate and have him decide who does and who doesn’t get to see the doctors …and pray that he’d realize the human condition isn’t as neat and black and white as he thinks it is.
Recommended reading: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all
Also enjoyed reading this transcript today: http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2009/06/10/house-help-committee-hearing-on-single-payer/
I agree that health care must be fixed. When I broke my wrists in Roma, I was x-rayed, examined, casted, and given several shots at the hospital. We started to leave the hospital when I realized we hadn’t paid anything. I walked back to the doctor’s office and he told me there was no charge. The only thing I paid was for 3 prescriptions at the farmacia–about $25. Fortunately, we had travel insurance. When we got back to the States I used my Blue Cross/Blue Shield Federal health insurance (pretty good insurance on the scale of things) for my visits to the orthopedic clinic. Then I had to spend several weekends sifting through tons of paperwork to get reimbursed by the travel insurance for the Roma meds, the BCBS deductible, and the items not covered by BCBS. Just one of the reasons I’d like to live in Roma again. Also, the travel insurance was a godsend–it allowed Bill and me to change our flights at no extra cost. The only thing I would have done differently is to have asked that the discharge papers specify that I needed to fly first-class!
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