For all of our youth and vibrancy, we are not invincible.
By college, our immune systems have become fairly resistant and our bodies are able to bounce back from almost anything. At this age, the occasional cold is our biggest annoyance, and a doctor visit, let alone a stay in the hospital, is far from our thoughts. Most of us don't worry about health insurance because it's not a prevalent issue in our lives.
This lack of attention is augmented by the fact that most students are covered by their parent's health plans - 80 percent at MSU, to be exact. Most health insurance plans allow for children to be kept on until they are 25 years of age, or enough time to go through graduate school and/or get a job.
The members of that majority are incredibly lucky. The rest of the student body potentially faces a situation where they must either struggle to pay for a hefty plan, quickly find a job that offers benefits (in a horrible employment market), or even worse, go without insurance.
If you are one of those gambling by not having insurance, consider getting out of the game. Constant worrying and safeguarding isn't productive to bettering society, but considering the thousands of dollars in bills you could face should something horrible happen, you have to play this safe.
For you, there are things such as the Student Health Subsidy Program. The program provides health care for low-income students, giving them unlimited visits to Olin Health Center and up to $1,400 in prescription-drug coverage.
To qualify, 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 - yet another option. Seventeen percent of MSU students qualified for these services when the program began four years ago.
MSU also has its own program through The Chickering Group, an insurance provider.
For international students, the idea of health insurance might be unfamiliar if you come from a place where the health care system is universal. In the United States, unfortunately, health care is an expensive necessity you have to fund by yourself.
If you are a woman, the need to have health insurance might be more pertinent. Doctors recommend young women have a Pap smear every year. These procedures can be costly if you are not insured.
Also, if you use birth control, you could get stuck with a monthly bill should you be dropped from your parents' plan. With the contraceptives costing around $30 a prescription, that's like an extra phone bill.
Whether it's for the fear of a major health disaster or to fulfill regular needs, everyone needs to have health insurance. Even if your parents are taking care of you, it wouldn't be a bad idea to become educated about the matter.
Like washing your own clothes, making sure you are covered is just another part of growing up.
