As a college student, I never thought having health insurance would be a concern.
I always thought my biggest worries would be trivial: finding a job, passing a class and managing time.
I was on Medicaid and had been since I was 12. That was, until this summer, when I received notification that my benefits would be terminated at the beginning of September. I immediately made a phone call to the Medicaid office with the hopes that I would be able to get some sort of benefits after September.
I found out that I lost health insurance because I turned 19 over the summer. In Indiana, those over 19 have only three ways to be covered by the state-- none of which I am eligible for, nor do I hope to be eligible for within my time at DePauw.
The first option is to already have a dependent and to be below the poverty line. The second option is to be pregnant, at which point I could get limited Medicaid to pay for prenatal and delivery costs. The final option is for those with a disability. While most states are expanding their Medicaid coverage under Obamacare, Indiana is not, which means the criteria will remain the same.
With this, the government is almost encouraging people to depend on them. These programs were designed to aid people temporarily, but the criteria doesn't allow it to be that now. Personally, I would continually be paying the aid forward. I would be graduating and ideally getting a job that would provide these benefits
While most people are under their parent's health insurance, there are cases where parents don't have health insurance. Albeit a minority, I'm in that minority. The lack of coverage has left me with four options.
First, under the Affordable Healthcare Act, I could purchase catastrophic insurance, which only starts to be worth something if something were to happen to me. If I were in an accident or need to have major surgery, I'd have something to help me pay for it, but there wouldn't be coverage for medicines or going to the doctor if I'm not on campus.
Or, I could buy health insurance from a private company. This tends to be expensive. Even with no pre-existing conditions, my premiums would be upwards of $200 a month. When my full time job is to pursue an education, I simply can't afford that.
I also have the option of waiting six months and trying to get coverage through the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP). HIP provides health insurance to families or individuals that are low income. Premiums are set based on income. You're only eligible for HIP if you have been uninsured for six months. However, even though my room and board is paid for and I never see a penny of it, I have to claim my scholarships as income. As a result, my premiums under HIP would be just as expensive as the private sector.
My final option is to simply go without, pray that I don't have an accident and use the Wellness Center as my primary source of medical care. However, the same piece of legislation that provides me with the option of catastrophic health insurance, also mandates that I purchase some form of health insurance. The fines associated with the lack of insurance are progressive, meaning that each year I don't have insurance, I have to pay a higher fine.
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Indiana University have "insurance" plans that cover students while they are on campus. The difference is, each of these schools have better medical facilities than DePauw, which is a direct result of their medical school.
To me, there's just something intrinsically wrong with the situation. There's a lack of viable options for part of the population. The system in place almost rewards not being self sufficient, but those who are on their way to becoming so are swept under the rug.
-Decriscio is a sophomore philosophy major from Fort Wayne, Ind.