Should Universities Require Their Students to Have Health Insurance?

As the health debate continues on, universities have entered the mix with some controversial decisions of their own. Michigan State University is the latest school to begin requiring their students to have some form of health insurance coverage. If a student doesn't have a policy in place, the university will enroll him or her in an Aetna plan that would cost the student $1,500 for the school year. 

According to MSU, 25% of universities in the United States have the same requirement regarding health care coverage. Some representatives oppose the change, however, saying that it's not right to add additional costs to the ever-increasing price of tuition. State Rep. Bob Genetski said that "this mandated health insurance can raise the cost of college by roughly $1,500 a year," and that "a college education is expensive enough as it is, and this represents one more barrier to entry for Michigan's tuition-paying families."

On one hand, having healthy students on campus means better focus in the classroom and students getting the most out of their college education without missing class time due to illness. However, some universities opt to offer private insurance plans to their students but don't make coverage mandatory, which keeps tuition costs down in comparison to the schools who require some sort of coverage. 

MSU argues that they are "trying to protect students who might have to choose between paying for medical treatment or college," but considering how much health care costs these days even when you do have insurance as well as ever-higher tuition costs, it still seems as if shouldering both burdens can be extremely costly.