Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., presented a low-cost health insurance plan for students when state legislators convened in late January.
The plan hopes to capture the state's biggest segment of its uninsured population - at 17.8 percent - the 18-to-34 age group, said John Nielsen, Gov. Huntsman's advisor on healthcare.
The plan would eliminate some 13 state mandates, cover up to five types of care and have a "very narrow network," Nielsen said.
Although Utah's public institutions of higher learning have voiced concerns that the cost of having an across-the-board insurance requirement may inhibit students from enrolling, Nielsen said there is wide support, even among students. Brigham Young University has had a student health insurance mandate in place for years, he said.
So does the University of Oklahoma, at least for its medical students, although the irony is that most students told Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland that they would not have bought insurance had it been voluntary.
Since 1989, Massachusetts law has required students enrolled in its institutions of higher learning to participate in a qualifying student health insurance program or in a health benefit plan with comparable coverage, said Jennifer Kritz, spokeswoman for Massachusetts' Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
Although Massachusetts' 2006 healthcare reform law requires health insurance coverage, the state's uninsured rate in 2007 for all ages was 5.7 percent, and 7.9 percent for 19-to-24 year-olds, according to the state's 2007 data.
Most state student insurance proposals or programs have a broad focus.
For instance, while Tennessee doesn't have a student health insurance requirement, uninsured college students may be eligible for coverage through Cover Tennessee, a series of programs launched by Gov. Phil Bredesen in April 2007, said Laurie Lee, the program's executive director of Benefits Administration.
Tennessee's uninsured rate is 14 percent, with 22 percent of 18-to-34 year-olds uninsured, according to the U.S. Census Current Population Survey data.
"We continue to explore ways to enroll younger adults in the programs, recognizing that this age group is typically the least likely to purchase health insurance - mainly due to the cost - so keeping individual premiums low is a key component of the program," said Lee.