Minnesota Students Slipping Through Healthcare Cracks

At the University of Minnesota, you have to have healthcare. Period.

Yet some students are uninsured, the Minnesota Daily reports.

A loophole in the school's healthcare registration system allows students to give false information to avoid the school's Student Health Benefit Plan. The plan costs $151, the Daily says, but students can opt out of the plan by filling out a private insurance form. Because only about 25 percent of the private insurance forms are audited (for budget reasons), many students are slipping through the cracks.

The revelation is tied to a larger-scale problem: dropouts. Carl Anderson, the chief operating officer of Boynton Health Services at the University of Minnesota, says that medical costs are the No. 1 reason students drop out of school.

The university's plan has a $3 million lifetime maximum, covers preventive care, does not have a deductible, and cannot exclude enrollees based on pre-existing conditions. Additionally, the plan can be paid for by financial aid, the report says.

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