Student Health Insurance

Disclaimer:
The purpose of this page is to make health insurance more accessible to medical students by providing them with information concerning different health insurance policy options. This page is by no means a comprehensive review of all available health insurance plans, but instead it is meant to point students towards different health insurance possibilities. The facts and figures here are based on data collected in May 2006. We have no affiliations with the Insurance Companies quoted. The information here is purely meant to be informative.

General Information

• Lack of insurance compromises the health of the uninsured because they receive less preventive care, are diagnosed at more advanced disease stages, and once diagnosed, tend to receive less therapeutic care and have higher mortality rates than insured individuals.


• Regardless of age, race, ethnicity, income or health status, uninsured children were much less likely to have received a well-child checkup within the past year. One study shows that nearly 50% of uninsured children did not receive a checkup in 2003, almost twice the rate (26%) for insured children.


• Over one-third of uninsured adults say they did not fill a drug prescription in 2003 and over a third went without a recommended medical test or treatment due to cost.


• The uninsured are increasingly paying "up front" - before services will be rendered. When they are unable to pay the full medical bill in cash at the time of service, they can be turned away except in life-threatening circumstances.


• About 20% of the uninsured (vs. 3% of those with coverage) say their usual source of care is the emergency room.


• Studies estimate that the number of excess deaths among uninsured adults age 25-64 is in the range of 18,000 a year. This mortality figure is similar to the 17,500 deaths from diabetes within the same age group.


• According to one study, over a third of the uninsured have problems paying medical bills. The unpaid bills were substantial enough that many had been turned over to collection agencies


• Nearly a quarter of the uninsured adults say they had changed their way of life significantly to pay medical bills.


• Increasingly, the uninsured are more likely to be hospitalized for an "avoidable condition" - problems that could have been prevented had a person received appropriate and timely outpatient care.

Above taken from: The National Coalition on Health Care

Health Insurance Plans

• University of Utah - Student Health Insurance Policy


• Altius


• Intermountain Healthcare


• Regence BlueCross and BlueShield
• Medicaid

How does the University of Utah Student Health Insurance Policy Compare with other Private Health Insurance Plans?

Table 1. Comparison of insurance rates between the $250,000 Maximum Benefit University of Utah Student Health Insurance Policy (UUSHIP) and various other local private insurance companies. Estimates based on information collected in May 2006. All estimates based on the oldest member of family being 25-29 years old. Specific coverages vary from plan to plan. Each plan was chosen to approximate the benefits offered by the UUSHIP and are outlined in Table 2.

Table 2. Comparison of UUSHIP coverage with other private insurance policies. Premiums for these policies are outlined in Table 1.

Conclusions

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