<p>FSU first public university in Florida mandating health insurance
Bill Kaczor
The Associated Press</p>
<p>May 27, 2007, 9:32 AM EDT</p>
<p>TALLAHASSEE -- A broken bone, cuts and bruises weren't enough to keep a Florida State University student out of class after being hit by a car while riding his bicycle three years ago.</p>
<p>His $30,000 hospital bill, though, forced him to drop out because neither he nor the driver had insurance, recalled Leslie Sacher, director of the university's Thagard Student Health Center.</p>
<p>The student, whose identity is confidential, eventually worked out an arrangement to pay the bill and he returned to school the next semester. It was the last straw, though, for health center officials who annually process hundreds of medical withdrawals.</p>
<p>"We were determined that was going to be the last student who suffered in that way," Sacher said.</p>
<p>It took a bit longer than she had hoped, but Florida State this fall will be the state's first public university to require health insurance, starting with the freshman class and other new or transfer students.</p>
<p>If students lack their own coverage that meets university criteria, usually through a parent's policy, Florida State will provide it at a minimum annual cost of $1,449. Financial help will be available for low-income students.</p>
<p>Mandatory insurance is a growing trend among the nation's universities. It's nearly universal among private schools and the number of public universities requiring it has grown from 25 percent to 35 percent in the past two years, according to American College Health Association figures.</p>
<p>The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state's 11 public universities, is looking into the possibility of expanding the requirement to the other schools. A task force co-chaired by Sacher next week will complete a recommendation the board will consider at its June 13-14 meeting in Miami.</p>
<p>Accidents are just one of several factors driving the insurance push, but it's the reason most prominently mentioned on Thagard's Web site. It warns -- more than once -- emergency room costs alone could be enough to force a student "into debt for life."</p>
<p>Another factor is uninsured students who get sick often put off or fail to get treatment or prescriptions filled.</p>
<p>"We believe, and we have evidence to back it up, that healthy students meet their academic goals," Sacher said. "Unhealthy students do not meet their academic goals. They don't go to class. If they go to class they don't pay attention."</p>
<p>When uninsured students do seek treatment it's often in the emergency room, the most expensive option, Sacher said.</p>
<p>Florida State's tuition includes a health fee that pays for office visits at Thagard, but unless students have insurance they must pay for procedures, tests and prescriptions -- offered at discounted rates -- out of their own pockets. The center also does not have a wide array of specialists nor does it provide emergency room or hospital care.</p>
<p>The shootings last month at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead including the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, could hasten the national movement because a judge had ordered Cho to receive mental health treatment.</p>
<p>"The students we're real concerned about are the ones who quit taking their psychotropic medications because they don't have the money," said Stephen Beckley, a Colorado-based health care consultant.</p>
<p>It's unclear, though, whether that was a factor at Virginia Tech because investigators have yet to get access to Cho's medical and mental health records. A panel studying the massacre plans to seek them in court if necessary.</p>
<p>The shootings, though, show that mental health and prescription drug coverage -- both included in Florida State's mandatory insurance -- are essential, Sacher said.</p>
<p>"Virginia Tech was the unlucky school, but it could happen anywhere," she said.</p>
<p>The turning point for Mary Coburn, Florida State's vice president for student affairs, came when only one company bid on the school's voluntary health insurance offered to students. Too few students were enrolling and those who did typically had health problems, driving up the risk and cost.</p>
<p>Florida State's Board of Trustees approved mandatory coverage in May 2005 after Coburn told the panel rates for the voluntary insurance had soared 142 percent in the prior five years. She said increasing participation through mandatory coverage would lower rates.</p>
<p>Only two trustees voted against the plan, Richard McFarlain and Harold Knowles.</p>
<p>"I just have a visceral reaction to government forcing people to do anything," McFarlain said in an interview.</p>
<p>Knowles told the board he was worried about increasing costs for students least able to afford it.</p>
<p>Students, though, can add the insurance premiums to their financial aid packages, which they cannot do with voluntary coverage. They are not covered, however, by the state's Bright Futures scholarships, which are based on academic performance rather than need.</p>
<p>Florida State officials had intended to put the plan into effect last year, but the startup process took longer than anticipated, Coburn said.</p>
<p>Rik and Gail Hafer of St. Louis are buying Florida State's insurance for their daughter, Cait, 18, although they have family coverage through Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville where he teaches economics.</p>
<p>"It's better from the standpoint of things she'll have done here that we'd have to pay a copay on and a fairly sizable one," Gail Hafer said.</p>
<p>Rik Hafer, though, said they're doing it mostly for safety and peace of mind. Cait, who tends to have frequent medical needs because she's a dancer, will be completely covered through the health center and won't have to worry about filing for insurance reimbursements or trying to find doctors.</p>
<p>Dr. Bob Dollinger, a Miami physician, has a dual interest in the issue.</p>
<p>As executive director of health services at Florida International University he co-chairs the Board of Governors' task force with Sacher, and his daughter, Brittany, will be a freshman at Florida State this fall.</p>
<p>Dollinger supports mandatory insurance although his daughter will get a waiver because she is covered through his family policy.</p>
<p>"The sticking point is affordability because we don't want to deny access to students to get a higher education," Dollinger said. "Resistance is probably going to come mostly from administrators. I think the health care people are pretty united."</p>
<p>Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel</p>