They vary from being dependent on their parents, like most, to what some call engaging in reckless ignorance. But for most MSU students, with or without it, health insurance isn't a pressing issue.

Students covered by their parents' plan don't think about it, and those without health insurance, such as MSU College of Law graduate student Ken Lovell, tread lightly and hope to stay away from costly accidents or injury.

"The way I see it ? I'll take my chances," said Lovell, who lives in a duplex on Burcham Drive and uses $4,500 in loans each semester to pay for graduate school.

Lovell, 28, worked in pharmaceutical sales after his undergraduate work and has been without health insurance since quitting in August. Because an insurance plan would cut into his standard of living, he said it will have to wait - indefinitely.

"There are definitely things you forgo," Lovell said. "If you get a rash, or stop going to the dentist, you forgo the rash and start brushing your teeth more."

The first-year law student said an MSU health-insurance plan would constitute 20 percent of his income, but says, ideally, everyone should have health insurance - he just can't afford it.

On the other side, along with 80 percent of MSU students, is Christina Dean, an undergraduate covered under her parents' health-insurance plan.

Most health-insurance providers cover dependent college students until they graduate or reach 25 years old.

Dean, a no-preference freshman, said although she doesn't regularly visit the doctor and her parent's insurance plan doesn't fully cover things such as prescription drugs at Olin Health Center, she is at least financially safe if an accident leaves her in the hospital.

Nationally, more colleges are requiring students to have health insurance because college hospitals are being stuck with the costs from uninsured students.

University Physician Beth Alexander said requiring students to have health insurance would displace too many MSU students who can barely afford school costs.

"Students without insurance don't have much money anyway; it would just be another barrier," she said. "Or they could gamble on nothing big happening."

Alexander said health care isn't much of a talking point in the college-age group because most students visit the doctor only one to two times a year, and usually only for simple checkups.

She said the low number of doctor visits means health insurance for college students is protection from catastrophic hospital costs incurred by extreme accidents.

Students don't have to worry about preventive care, such as regular doctor visits, simply because most are in good health. Alexander said with the exception of sexually active women who need gynecological care, including pap smears, and students with diabetes and other diseases, most students only need insurance to cover serious accidents.

Alexander said this is when students can incur serious debts for hospital costs.

Accidents and the resulting injuries are included in the top three causes of death for students.

"If you fell off the top floor of Holmes (Hall), you need health insurance," said Alexander, who has seen MSU students left with significant costs after emergencies. "In grade school and college (age groups), you don't see a lot of need for health insurance unless you have chronic disease. But hospital costs are terribly expensive if something bad happens, and then the need for heath insurance is very real."

But for those students without means to afford health insurance, the cost can sometimes be a determining factor between being covered and eating.

Another option for students kicked off their parent's insurance and without insurance is the Student Health Subsidy Program, or SHSP, which provides health care for low-income students. It offers unlimited office visits to Olin and up to $1,400 in prescription-drug coverage. Students must have an income that is less than 250 percent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines and be ineligible to join programs such as Medicaid.

Olin Health Center Director Glynda Moorer said 17 percent of MSU students qualified for SHSP when it began four years ago, and 600 students are now enrolled in the program.

Moorer said no insurance "is a problem with chronic illness. That's why we worked diligently to get this program."

MSU does not require its students to have health insurance with the exception of international students. Because foreign students aren't covered by Medicaid, a federally funded health program, Peter Briggs said they must either find insurance or be educated on how to use their parent's plan in the very different privatized U.S. health system.

"Many of those students are from places with socialized health care and (U.S. health care) isn't well understood - it can be overwhelming," said Briggs, director of international students and scholars.

He said most international students only have a scanty sense of how to deal with prescription drugs or contraceptives.

South Korea native Ryuck Park, a finance junior, said the mandatory health insurance coverage for international students wasn't a "big deal" because the price was included with tuition.

He said switching from South Korea's universal health care system to the United States' privatized care wasn't a big change.

"The basic concepts are the same," Park said. "If I was in a car accident ? it's just the same as here. I'd go to the hospital, and they take care of everything."

For students stuck between getting a job to cover their insurance and being dropped from their parent's plan, MSU offers its own health insurance.

Nearly 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled in the MSU plan, including Robin Teeple, a 22-year-old apparel and textile design junior.

Teeple divorced her husband in February and subsequently lost her health insurance. She said miscommunication between The Chickering Group and her previous insurance group left her almost uninsured. After a nearly month-long struggle to sign up with Chickering, MSU's plan provider, she now has insurance.

Before her insurance kicked in with Chickering, Teeple said on March 4 she had a nasal or sinus infection and visited Olin for care.

Olin provides three visits a year for all students, which Moorer said meets standards because surveying showed 85 percent of students came three or fewer times.

"They told me MSU will give you three free visits a year," Teeple said. "That helped me out a lot - if I didn't have that I'd be screwed."

Scott Cendrowski can be reached at cendrow3@msu.edu.