A study released in late March by the Government Accountability Office indicates nearly 7 million, or 80 percent, of college students have insurance through private or public health plans.
Over half of all colleges nationwide offered student insurance plans in the 2007-2008 academic year, and benefits varied across those plans, the GAO found.
The study, conducted for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, found that many students may be covered through college plans or under their parents' policies, but they may face serious challenges obtaining health insurance after they leave college. As college students get older, they may be unable to retain coverage as a dependent child on their parents' plan, the GAO said.
Twenty percent of college students aged 18 through 23 – about 1.7 million students – lacked health insurance in 2006, the study found. Most of the $120 million to $255 million in uncompensated care students received was for non-injury-related care that was provided in a doctor's office or hospital emergency room.
The GAO warned that without insurance, college students may face adverse health consequences and high medical bills that will be passed on to federal and state taxpayers.
The GAO analyzed data from the U.S Census Bureau on students aged 18 through 23 in 2006 and the Department of Health and Human Services' 2005 MEPS. The sample consisted of active two-year public and four-year public and private nonprofit colleges that in 2005 had an undergraduate enrollment of at least 200 and participated in federal student financial aid programs.
The GAO study was done as part of the Senate committee's recent look at the challenges students face in attending college during a down-turned economy.