College students increasingly seek campus health care

More college students are finding health care on campus. The Wall Street Journal reports: "As more parents lose their jobs—and their insurance—in the recession, more college students are having to scramble for health care. College officials say visits to campus health clinics are up sharply as students increasingly rely on these services, generally paid for by tuition or entrance fees, to cover basic health needs like checkups and lab tests. More students also are buying college-sponsored insurance plans to cover more extensive medical needs, like prescription drugs and visits to specialists. Some, though, are taking their chances, going with inadequate coverage or none at all, the officials say."

"Health clinics and insurance plans vary widely from college to college. Some campuses offer only basic primary care, while others have a broad array of specialists on staff, from gynecologists to orthopedists. Insurance plans at some colleges cover claims of as much as $1 million a year, while others have limits of just $50,000 or less. For most people, health-coverage details won't play a significant role in where students decide to attend school. But as campus visits heat up in coming months ahead of application deadlines for the next academic year, it's worth paying attention to how a school's health center works and what its insurance plan covers. Such factors could play a big role in students' well-being and expenses during their college years" (Chaker, 11/5).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.