UC Board May Require Insurance for Grad Student Enrollment

Eight years ago, University of California officials noticed an unsettling statistic that prompted a rewrite of the rules on campus health care.

The figureheads found that, systemwide, an estimated 40 percent of undergraduates were living without health insurance or lacked adequate coverage. About a quarter of the students who were dropping out did so because of medical reasons, a significant portion of which was linked to inadequate coverage or none at all, according to a 2001 Board of Regents report prepared by the UC Advisory Committee on Student Health.

In response, the regents authorized the UC president to establish mandatory health insurance as a condition of enrollment beginning with the fall term of 2001. Next week, they plan to consider a similar plan for all university graduate students, beginning with the 2010 fall term.

Universities such as UC San Diego have been addressing the problem for years, but lawmakers have nearly left them out of the current health care debate, according to Aaron Speer, a spokesman for the left-leaning consumer advocacy group Calpirg.

“I think they’re being overlooked,” Speer said. “They’re being seen as the invincible generation.”

Last week, the group released a report called “Uncovered: How the Health Care System Is Failing Young Californians,” calling attention to the 18- to 29-year-old age bracket. The category represents the biggest group of uninsured, according to the report, with 20 percent of college students ages 18 to 23 living without insurance.

Among other initiatives, the group is pushing for changes in health care reform that would allow dependents to remain on their parents’ health care plan until age 26.

Speer said this is a major problem for the 53 percent of 19- to 29-year-olds who aren’t eligible for coverage through their California employer.

“The system makes it very difficult for them to join,” he said.

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Home Is Where The Help Is: If one major theme emerged from the TedMed meeting held late last month at the Hotel del Coronado, it was the move toward home-based care for an aging population.

Grandma, it seems, will live more independently under the auspices of new robotic monitoring devices and better sensors that detect bodily changes.

In a presentation that had the audience roaring, iRobot Corp. CEO Colin Angle showed a series of robot depictions through time, from the primitive, boxy kind used in early films to hostile cartoon alien robots.

He jokingly asked the audience what problem did they have with these friendly creatures? His point, though, was to drive home the fact that for every person needing care, only one or two family members will be able to provide them the support they need.

“Robots aren’t going to replace me,” Angle said. “The point of the robots is extending independent living.”

Ron Kinder, president of Home Care Assistance Corp. of San Diego, said he’s also noticed increasing demand for home-based care, particularly after families visit their loved ones for the holidays.

“As our population ages, those technologies, I think, will be very helpful in supplementing home care,” he said.

But nothing, he said, can replace the feel of a home-cooked meal. At least not yet.

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Healthier State: A report released last week indicates a healthier California than just a year earlier.

United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention released the 20th anniversary edition of America’s Health Rankings showing that California ranks 23rd compared with the health of other states. The Golden State ranked 24th last year.

Contributing to its improvement was a low prevalence of obesity and smoking.