As the graduation date nears for 2009 graduates and their time in the real world will soon begin, many students need to consider how they will provide themselves with health coverage.

For Jackson, being responsible for her children meant turning to Medicaid.

Health care costs

Jackson said she had to “fight hard” to get Medicaid coverage for her children.

“If they’re your birth kids, it’s easy to get them put under your insurance,” said Jackson, who is the boys’ adoptive mother. “But since they aren’t my birth kids, I had to go to court and get guardianship for them and then get them Medicaid.” 

Her stress didn’t end there, though, even with insurance.

Eric and Derrick’s birth mother was addicted to drugs during her pregnancies. Derrick was born three months premature. Both boys have experienced various illnesses due to their birth mother’s addiction, and Derrick has developmental delays.

“I had to pay $300 a month every month for coverage, and then Medicaid would take the rest. But I couldn’t afford it. So we went back and forth to the court,” Jackson said.

“Since Eric was a ward of the court, we got him straight Medicaid. His medicines were about $500 a month without insurance.”

Medicaid coverage is absolutely crucial for Jackson’s family, she said. Derrick alone sees eight different health professionals from physical therapists to nutritionists on a regular basis, and Medicaid covers about $5,000 in health care for him a month.

Once, when Jackson had meningitis, she was hospitalized for a week. After she was discharged, she found out that Medicaid had shut off her insurance.

“(Medicaid) did it because they said I’m not their birth mother and wasn’t covered by Medicaid anymore. So I didn’t even realize I lost my insurance until I was in the hospital,” Jackson said.

“If I had known I had lost it, I wouldn’t have gone to the hospital. I probably wouldn’t be here. I’d be dead.”

Prior to having insurance, Jackson found out about Care Free Medical Inc., which accepts people without insurance. Planned Parenthood, 515 E Grand River Ave., also provides all of its services on a sliding fee scale even if patients don’t have health insurance.

“It’s our mission to make reproductive health care available to all women and men regardless of their ability to pay. In a practical sense we make that possible financially in part because we receive a family planning grant that helps cover the cost of providing family planning and STD testing and treatment,” said ?Margy Long, vice ?president of advocacy and communications for Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan.

“The cost depends on the income and family size of the patient. … Our full fee for an annual exam is about 70 percent of what it is at a private doctor, and birth control pills are significantly less than a pharmacy.”

Finding coverage

MSU students on their parents’ health insurance have the benefit of coverage until a certain age depending on the policy or as long as they’re seeking an education.

Dependent coverage is usually cheaper than being the primary member of a policy. But for others, the cost falls on them.

“I’m insured through my dad’s company,” said communicative sciences and disorders senior Christine Sheffler. 

“It lasts through my education. I’m going to be going to grad school in August for the next two years, so I will be covered until I graduate from grad school.”

This wasn’t an option for prenursing junior Katie Minadeo, mother of Aidan, 2. Medicaid or employee benefits are a common resource for students seeking health coverage, and Minadeo took a similar route.

“I picked up coverage from Steak n Shake, where I was a manager,” Minadeo said. 

“It was UnitedHealthcare, and it was awful. They covered next to nothing, and I had huge co-pays on everything.” 

Minadeo had to provide her own insurance after her mother dropped Minadeo from her policy. Minadeo was pregnant with her son and not in school at the time. Her mother worried about having to repay the coverage if her insurer discovered her daughter wasn’t eligible.

“I eventually enrolled with Medicaid, and if it weren’t for having it as secondary insurance, I would have been left with tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills because Aidan was born eight weeks premature and had a two-week stay in the (neonatal intensive care unit),” Minadeo said.

Aidan suffers from severe asthma that worsens in the winter, meaning he has at least one hospitalization every year, four regular medications and up to eight medications if he’s having a flare-up, she said.

“Medicaid is a lifesaver,” she said.

“They pay for all of his doctor’s visits, hospital stays and prescriptions. His medications are very expensive. One of the inhaled medications is almost $200 a box, and we can go through one of those in a week if he’s having a flare-up. Aidan’s asthma medications are all 100 percent covered.”

“I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have his coverage.”

Minadeo worked at Steak n Shake for benefits, and Starbucks Coffee Co. is another employer that provides benefits for part-time as well as full-time employees.

“At Starbucks, we have a direct and open relationship with our partners and we have a legacy of providing a positive workplace and a comprehensive benefits package that includes affordable and accessible health care coverage for even part-time workers,” said Tara Darrow, of the company’s Global Communications department.

“In a recent survey, the vast majority of partners identified health benefits, opportunities for growth and development and a positive work environment as the top three reasons they choose to work for Starbucks,” Darrow said.

 *Student Insurance*

For second-year graduate student Tyrell Simkins, the choice was between raising his tuition costs or applying to Medicaid. For him, it took a combination of both to meet his family’s needs.

Simkins has health insurance for his daughter, Lucille, 4, his pregnant wife, Jensie, and himself. He is covered by MSU’s student insurance and pays the additional cost to his tuition through his student loans, but his wife and daughter have Medicaid.

MSU student health insurance covers Olin Health Center office visits, $2,000 worth of prescriptions a year and other health services like X-rays, hospitalization, lab work and specialty care. Dependents such as spouses and children can be added to a student’s policy.

Simkins said he doesn’t want to add his wife and daughter because he doesn’t want to add the cost to his tuition.

“You can buy insurance for your spouse and child, but it’s like $5,000 a year,” he said.

“Basically it comes down to, do I want to borrow $5,000 more in student loans to cover my wife and child? Or can I just admit I’m poor enough for Medicaid?” 

Sickness and injury is unpredictable. Whether ?single or married with ?children, health insurance is an issue that will always have to be at the back of students’ minds as they embark on their lives after graduation.