As a poor college student, is there any fed/state funded health care available to me?

Factual Questions
1

School is getting more and more difficult every year for me financially. My school offers a health insurance plan for about $750 for the year, and while that happens to be a great price for what it offers, it still puts quite a strain on my wallet.

I was just wondering if there is something that the government offers in this regard that I might be eligible for. What are the requirements for Medicaid eligibility? I tried searching Social Services webpages but they only gave me a phone number for my county office and when I called, they were suprisingly less than helpful.

2

I can relate. Our school insurance is $1300 per year, and it’s mandatory.

3

At VA Tech we pay medical fees that lets us go to the health center for basic health care. Then again my school has 26000 students.

4

Our basic health is also provided, and we still have to carry insurance. We didn’t have to carry insurance for undergrad, but the graduate school is requiring it. And, I am no longer eligible for my parents’ insurance either. Regarding the OP, however, I would contact the financial aid office and discuss your financial situation. They may be able to help.

5

In general, providing health care for the indigent is a local (usually county) responsibility. (Have you heard of “the county poor farm”?) The federal government got into paying for such care but only through the states. Today, states, counties, and cities provide care for the poor.

If you "go bare’ (without insurance) and have the bad luck to need medical care, you can get if from your local goverment through programs setup for the indigent but unless you are penniless they will probably try to get you to reimburse them, at least partially.

6

I know what you mean about the insurance eating up your money. While students generally get pretty good insurance rates, like the $750 a year paid by Moe, it is still a pretty hefty bite if your income is low, as is the case for many students.

Paying for health insurance directly was a new experience for me when i came to grad school in the US - i’m from Australia, where my Medicare levy was taken out with my taxes, so i never had to write a check. Not only that, but the rates are based on income, so as a student i was typically paying about $A200 (~US$110) a year. And if you happen to earn less than about $A13,500, you don’t have to pay the Medicare levy at all.

My grad school here in the US (Johns Hopkins U., Baltimore) has, after years of wrangling, agreed to start subsidizing grad student insurance. This year the levy is $950, and the university is kicking in about $300 of that, so that we pay $650. Next year the university is upping its subsidy to $600, and i believe that a year or two after that it is going to fully fund the health insurance for all resident graduate students.

If you’re a grad student, or even an undergrad, get your student representative groups to start negotiating with your school over the issue. The Hopkins Graduate Representative Organization did a great job on this - it was only through their hard work and persistence that the university administration caved in. Of course, Hopkins is a fucking rich private university, and if you’re at a less well endowed private institution, or a state school, it could be that you will get nowhere on this issue because the school simply might not have the money.

Finally, while most schools require you to have health insurance, they don’t usually require you to have the school’s approved policy. Last year i had a policy with MEGA Life, which i believe was the approved policy of the National Graduate Student Association (or something similar). It wasn’t the greatest policy in the world, but it was only about $400 for the year, and it had some similar clauses to my school’s policy that made it OK. For example, if your first place of call for any illness or injury is your own school’s Health and Wellness Center, the insurance company waives the $1,000 deductible. Not much good if you’re hit by a car at 2am, but pretty good for less serious injury or illness.

7

Assuming you are single with no children, you can forget about Medicaid. The only exception is if you are on disability.

You’d have insurance if you were on disability, but chances are you’re not disabled, and even that doesn’t help sometimes. I’ve worked for a number of disability lawyers and usually the ones who truly are disabled get turned down because the system is polluted with lazy asshats who want a check because they had a bad childhood and they have “nerve problems.”

Basically, you’re outta luck.

8

Huh? I’m single, have no children and am not disabled. I’m on Medicaid which covers doctor appointments as well as my medication.

Right, anyone who has a psychiatric illness has no valid claim to disability. People with crippling OCD, agoraphobia and panic disorder are “lazy asshats.” I assume there are no people who feign back injuries or other physical ailments to get SSI or SSDI. :rolleyes:

9

Chief, what state are you in? Perhaps Medicaid laws are different from state to state.

I know in WV and KY, unless you are single with kids, you can forget about Medicaid. Ain’t no way you’ll get it otherwise.

Right, anyone who has a psychiatric illness has no valid claim to disability. People with crippling OCD, agoraphobia and panic disorder are "lazy asshats."

My mother-in-law is one of 6 kids who were abused by their father in every way. Her younger brother, Ray, IS a lazy asshat who gets a check every month for his “nerves.” His childhood was just so horrible and he is just so scarred that he can’t bring himself to work: but he has no trouble building houses for his family every other year or so, tromping on down to Florida all the time for vacations, etc. If his nerves are so shot, how is it he’s living a pretty normal life?

WV is the disability state. I have seen it abused too many times to take most people seriously when they claim a mental disability that causes them to not be able to work at all. Of COURSE people fake back injuries, but it is getting harder and harder to do that considering it’s hard to fake a bad MRI report, or an X-ray, etc. It is much easier to simply claim you’re depressed and act accordingly.

I would like to see everyone get disability who deserves it, I really would. As far as I can tell here, though, for every 1 person that truly deserves it, you have another 9 who are working the system. How many people do I know online alone who are on disability, yet sit in front of a computer for 8-10 hours a day surfing the net? Interesting that they can do that but somehow can’t work a desk job, no?

10

I live in Pennsylvania. To get Medicaid, I had to get an M. D. to sign a paper basically stating that without medication, I would be unable to work.

I don’t know with what condition the people you know online have been diagnosed, but anxiety disorders like agoraphobia often prevent people from leaving homes for long periods of time completely. I can’t argue that some people “work the system” by the means of claiming mental illness, but to single out only people with an underlying psychiatric condition is insensitive and stigmatizing. Disorders like schizophrenia, unipolar and bipolar depression, personality disorders and some anxiety disorders are often very cyclical. The person may be able to function on a limited term basis before the next relapse, manic shift or bout of depression. It is admittedly not as tangible or linear as a physical ailment, but that doesn’t mean the person can sustain an eight hour work day for a long period. I can’t speak for WV, but getting disability on the basis of a mental illness in PA is no small feat. I’ve known a person who tried and without a long medical history of psychiatric visits, hospital mental ward stays and a session with a psychiatrist commissioned by the SSA who’s trained and experienced to watch out for fakers who merely rattle off a list DSM criteria, it won’t happen.

11

I have a friend who’s been on SSI for awhile because she’s legally blind…she had to reapply this year, and she’s still waiting for the verdict. She was turned down once before because she was told that it’s now not enough to be legally blind…:confused:

As for my back and me, I didn’t even both applying, even though I’m on state disability…

12

Just to clarify: at my SUNY school (i.e. State Univ. of NY), there are mandatory medical fees which cover basic medical care. In addition, there is an optional plan for $750 which covers much of the other stuff, including drugs and physical therapy (I have a very bad back).

No, it certainly would seem I’m not eligible for Medicaid, being single, no kids, hardly disabled (just a little lazy at times).

I just can’t imagine how college students are expected to pay such large amounts for extensive health plans.
Don’t they understand that we are the future, man?

13

WV_Woman adopts the standard strategy of those with strong opinions and little evidence:

  1. Offer the single example that you know - “Her younger brother, Ray…”

  2. Make a general, unsubstantiated assertion - “…for every 1 person that truly deserves it, you have another nine who are working the system.”

  3. Imply that you also know the exact circumstances of a bunch of people you’ve never met except on the internet - “How many people do i know online…?”

  4. Most importantly, NEVER, EVER, provide anything other than anecdotal evidence to back up your prejudices. Because your own little personal world must be the model for the rest of society, right? :rolleyes:

14

In General Questions, “anecdote” is not the singular form of “data.”

Please provide a citation when making assertions.