http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hamps...getting_cancer/

College student loses her insurance after getting cancer
February 8, 2005

PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- The first shock for Michelle Morse and her family was when the 20-year-old college student was diagnosed with colon cancer, which is rare in someone so young.

Then came the sticker shock: The Morses would have to pay about $550 a month more to keep their daughter's health insurance if she dropped out of Plymouth State University to fight her illness.

Like most employer-provided health coverage, her parents policy requires an adult child to be in college full-time to be covered.

So Morse, who hopes to be an elementary-school teacher, buckled down and continued in school full-time. In addition to going to class, she did student-teaching in nearby elementary schools, at times wearing a chemotherapy pump attached to her hip.

A bill before the Legislature would prevent what happened to Morse from happening to other college students in the future. It would require insurers to cover college students for up to a year if they left school on medical leaves of absence.

"Nobody can question (Michelle's) illness, and nobody would want to trade places with her in a million years," her mother, AnnMarie Morse, says. "But kids like her should be allowed to stay on the policy.

"Yes, they're not in school. But it's not because they don't want to be."

Doctors said Morse jeopardized her treatment by staying in school full-time.

"You can get worn down to the point where it impacts your ability to get your treatments," said Dr. Paul Crow of New Hampshire Oncology-Hematology, where Morse gets her chemotherapy. Crow said side effects of chemotherapy include memory lapses and cognitive problems, which can undercut a students performance.

"It's awful, it's just awful," said Dick Hage, vice president of student affairs at the university. "Morally, it's just wrong to drop somebody. They'll take your money as long as youre well. What's right about that?"

Morse's mother, a teacher in Pembroke, is covered under SchoolCare, a self-insurance program for school employees. A SchoolCare administrator stressed that no one ever was going to deny Morse coverage. Had Morse cut back to part-time, her parents could have continued her coverage for about $550 a month on top of their regular $290 premium.

"The question really is not whether they're being kicked off, it's who pays," said Marc Benson, who oversees SchoolCare. Benson said SchoolCare follows industry standards.

Rep. William Infantine, R-Manchester, said prospects are uncertain for his bill because legislators fear insurance companies will stop coverage for college students if they are forced to cover cases such as Morse's.

The Morses, who live in Manchester, are a middle-class family. Her father is a regional sales manager for a Massachusetts-based food broker. They contribute some to their two children's college educations, but Michelle and her brother must work and take out loans to pay the remainder.

Mrs. Morse said the law should be changed even if it won't benefit her daughter.

"You're talking billion-dollar companies that can't cover kids in comas, or kids with cancer or kids who get into a car accident," she said.

This government is a disgrace you hear of so many stories of like these. Why is there no healthcare for all free at the point of use? Why do people put up with this.

I agree.
Why can't we get a real acounting of where healthcare money goes, who supposedly ultimately pays for healthcare provided, but not directly paid for.
Are they written off as bad debts and paid for by the taxpayers? et cetera.
The corporate healthcare industry is almost always among the top profit earners, usually recommended by market experts.
I contend that a national healthcare system would not be that much more expensive, if more expensive at all, when you combine all the medicare, medicaid, v.a. expenditures we already put out. But the idea of making a full-blown 20 year old cancer patient to attend classes full-time to keep her health insurance is the classic oxymoron.
"You are too sick to be in school, but you have to be in school full-time to get full benefit of insurance plan." Another insurance company Catch 22.

I tell you what I'd do. First I would contact my representatives in Congress and raise bloody hell with them every day until they called my insurer. Then I'd contact every news outlet and big-name reporter I could think of to get as much coverage as I could, in the hopes that all of that would shame the insurer into doing the right thing.

I would forward this story to Kerry! I'm sure this would make his blood boil as healthcare is one of his biggest concerns.

That is extremely scary.

And as a college student myself, I'd never even thought about what might happen if I had to drop out of school.

I'm going to check on that.

A lot of my friends are covered by the insurance provided (for a pretty big fee) by the University. I bet anything that the school's coverage depends on having at least part-time enrollment. Yikes.

This 100% sucks. It should not happen to anyone.

another reason to think about SOME FORM of socialized medicine...

not possible now since those in power want to keep cutting taxes.