• 11
  Aug
  2009

• Universal Health Care. What’s the deal?

  
  Filed Under: Health Insurance
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The Obama administration is debating and formulating a bill on Universal Health Care. The gist of it is “Health care is a fundamental right of every American and whether one can buy private health care or not, one is entitled to have Public Health Insurance.”

The present government has high hopes riding on this bill, and it was also a major poll promise of the administration. Also, the bill seems to have almost as many people supporting it as those opposing it. The President, obviously, is very keen on getting it through the congress. With lots of lobbying going on from politicians, hospitals, health insurance companies and private doctors, it needs to be seen how the bill will come out in its final form.

One thing is for sure. If observers are to believed, this bill has it in it to totally change the face of health care system in the US. However, it remains to be seen whether those changes will be more positive than negative.

What does that mean to an International Student studying in the USA? The finer points of the bill are still under consideration and are subject to passing of the bill. Whether or not an international student’s insurance will be covered in this is also one of the matters being discussed. Currently, wait-and-watch is the policy for most people.

• 10
  Aug
  2009

• Is it worth being uninsured?

  
  Filed Under: Health Insurance
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As a student at a young age of 20 or so, one has a belief that forever being healthy is a real possibility. And, why not? Going a whole year without ever seeing the inside of a doctor’s clinic is not so rare for young students. Or statistically speaking, a couple of visits to the doctor with a total medical expense of around $200 a year is the average in most countries in the student fraternity. When the expenses seem so low, does it still make sense to insure oneself? Or a more pertinent question - does this mean that it is worth being uninsured?

Most probably, no.

There are no two opinions about it - medical expenses in the USA are not cheap. Think of something common and not-so-scary - an appendicitis operation. It might end up costing upwards of $25,000 in most US hospitals. An unplanned expenditure of this scale can pretty much cripple many a budget. Auto accidents are another major reason for unplanned health care expenditure. They say accidents are not planned - but then, nor is the money needed to take care of it, if one should occur.

Health insurance for students takes care of these and many more scenarios that might seem improbable today, but might actually be lurking just down the turn. Gist of all this is - No, it might not be worth the risk. Good news, it might be a lot cheaper than you expected.

• 07
  Aug
  2009

• University sites, Students and Course Finders

  
  Filed Under: Health Insurance
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@Students
As a prospective international student, surely you would have visited websites of Universities you are interested in. Invariably there is a course finder, which will help you in finding a course, so to speak.

1. Have you felt disillusioned while using them?
2. Have you found some basic features lacking in there?
3. That they require multiple clicks when a couple would suffice, and need manually hunting for data when the important ones could be easily highlighted?
4. Peer reviews, ratings, comments, etc. which seem to be present even in personal blogs these days, seem to be lacking in most of these sites?
5. And finally, a link to download the soft copy of a printed manual - when the whole purpose of the site is not to have to look through the bulky book.

Well, disilussioned or not, you are not alone. We have all been there, seen that.

@Universities:
Not much to say. Every question that a student has is an area of improvement for the Universities. What is probably needed is that Course Finders have to stop being just another feature on the site. They have to be identified as the single most important part of the website. After all a course is pretty much the only product a University sells and these students are your only source of survival.

• 06
  Aug
  2009

• Asthma and Health Insurance

  
  Filed Under: Health Insurance
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According to a survey, around 6% students in US schools suffer from symptoms of chronic asthma, and breathing related issues. Now, that is quite a big number. Also, in spite of having Health Insurance coverage, not many have been successful in controlling asthma. Does it mean that having a health provider, and access to doctors and emergency rooms is not good enough in asthma treatment?

The survey brings to light some stunning facts. 90% of students in this group do have insurance coverage. But, only around 60% ever contacted a doctor or visited an emergency room for consultation or respite from the symptoms. 60% of those who didn’t have health insurance also sought treatment.

More than anything else, what this survey highlights is a lack of awareness among many in utilizing a service that they are actually paying for. This might not be an isolated case, if the researchers are to be believed. They say students are taking asthma and related problems in their stride, which is obviously not a very good sign. Also, similar treatment is being meted to most chronic illnesses.

Our suggestion to the students is as simple as it can get -

1. Get yourself medical insurance
2. Know when you need to use it
3. Use it