Nov 7 2009
"Insurance companies rack up much higher profits on health coverage sold to nearly 100,000 Massachusetts college students than on plans available to the general public, according to long-awaited data released late yesterday by the state,"
The Boston Globe reports. "The figures also show that college-student plans also have higher administrative costs. The result is that less of the premiums paid by students goes toward medical care."
The report, released by the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, "shows that, on average, 30 cents of every premium dollar goes toward profits and administrative costs, compared with 12 cents for plans sold to the general public. The remainder of the premiums is what's used to pay medical bills. Students at state schools faced the greatest disparity: 45 cents of every insurance dollar they pay goes to profit and administrative costs, according to the report." The study was initiated after students at several campuses complained that "the lower-cost insurance products marketed to them offer limited coverage, leaving many vulnerable to enormous medical debts after accidents or serious injuries" (Lazar, 11/6).
 This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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