OPINION & EDITORIAL
Students beware, SHIP not worthy
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Guest Columnist:
- Stop America's 'green scare' (December 10, 2007)
- Greek sexuality misconceptions unfair (December 6, 2007)
- Security fee shows UWPD's prejudice (December 6, 2007)
- Vote Democrat, vote equal LGBT rights (December 6, 2007)
- Free trade stagnates upward mobility (December 6, 2007)
Related Stories:
- SHIP doesn't deserve bad rap (October 19, 2006)
- Trick but no treat (March 7, 2002)
- Letters to the Editor: March 8, 2002 (March 8, 2002)
- Health insurance a priority for graduates (April 21, 2005)
- Bush's health-care plan adequate (February 1, 2007)
by Guest Columnist
Thursday, October 12, 2006
If you are currently enrolled in the University's Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), it is likely that, as I was during my years on the UW campus, you are unaware that you can save hundreds of dollars on quality health insurance by purchasing your own individual policy. These individual health insurance policies are easy to research and obtain online. Additionally, a simple phone call to a health insurance agent will allow you to receive, free of charge, guidance regarding which individual health insurance policy is most appropriate for you. Your health insurance is an issue of huge importance; please do not make any decision without first both performing your own research and obtaining consultation from a health insurance agent.
Regardless of where someone obtains health insurance, leading a healthy lifestyle is the most effective way to minimize healthcare and insurance premium expenditures. Over the course of one's life, the increased cost of healthcare and insurance premiums brought about by poor health behaviors can easily reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.
For healthy individuals who do not frequently find themselves in need of medical care, the question, "What do I need my health insurance to do for me?" can often be answered, "Protect me from the cost of a 'rainy day' major medical expense such as hospitalization after a traffic accident or medically necessary surgery."
SHIP coverage packages this rainy day medical protection along with benefits covering portions of everyday medical expenses for $1,382 per year. In a given year, SHIP medical coverage will prevent a student from paying any more than $2,000 of the total expenses resulting from rainy day events.
The online health insurance policy price quotation website, www.ehealthinsurance.com, offers individual health insurance policies from multiple health insurance companies. A 20-year-old, non-smoking male UW student can purchase an individual health insurance policy from United Healthcare that caps annual rainy day medical expenses at a maximum of $2,700 for $790 per year. Identical coverage for a 20-year-old, non-smoking female student costs $1,030 per year.
For all students, the question, "What is SHIP giving me for the extra $590 (or $350) that I am paying each year?" is answered with, "Reductions in the cost of 'everyday' medical expenses that are either greater than, or not provided by, the United Healthcare individual policy." For many students, an analysis of medical expenditures will show that, "Not enough in cost reductions to make SHIP a better value than the individual policy" is an equally valid answer to this question.
University Health Services offers a considerable menu of medical services to all students, not only those who have purchased SHIP, at no cost. The UHS webpage shows that all students can receive routine physicals, diagnostic blood tests, X-rays, stitches and many other services free of charge. Additionally, a prescription drug discount, although not as great as that provided to students with SHIP, is offered to all students. Upon reviewing the list that appears on the UHS page identified above, of medical services that SHIP provides a benefit for, which are not free of charge at UHS, many students will find that they will either only infrequently or never take advantage of their SHIP benefits.
If you are, or anticipate, being a frequent user of the everyday SHIP benefits, SHIP coverage is a good value for you. If, however, you are an infrequent service user, as the following analysis demonstrates, purchasing an individual health insurance policy will probably result in your saving hundreds of dollars every year.
In a medical rainy day year, SHIP reduces the student's rainy day expenses by $700 relative to the United Healthcare individual policy described above. Although most students will not experience any rainy day years during their undergraduate careers, unfair promotion of the case for purchasing an individual policy is avoided by including one rainy day year during the student's time at UW in the following insurance policy comparison.
For the United Healthcare male student insurance premium savings to be offset by SHIP benefits, SHIP will need to cover more than $1,660 in everyday medical expenses that are not paid for by the United Healthcare individual policy. For a female student, SHIP must pay for more than $500 in everyday expenses not covered by the United Healthcare policy.
Given these potential savings, especially for male students, it is worth spending a few hours to contemplate one's healthcare expenses. Although the long-standing maxim states that "you can't put a price on your health," you might find that you can put a lower one on your health insurance.
Pete Heinzelman (pete.heinzelman@murphyinsurance.com) is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin chemical engineering program.
