Doctors For America

I am a third year medical student at a school in Portland, Oregon. I generally do not object to required health insurance for students, but... $363.00 was deducted each term, for three terms, from my Federal Stafford Loans in my first year. This year, that figure has morphed into $607.00 per term. The deductible is $1,000.00. Prior to September 2009, our deductible was $1500.00. The medical insurance deduction takes place automatically, along with tuition and fees, before I receive my refund check for additional school and living expenses. I am a firm believer in low cost or free preventative care and hope that someday I will be able to provide such care for others who I know need it. I have used free care through a student clinic for chiropractic maintenance, acupuncture treatments for $10.00 per visit, student massage care for $25.00 a visit, and up until I was forced to have insurance I can't afford, I was able to get free minor care through a neighborhood clinic within walking distance of my apartment the few times that I needed it. Included here is an excerpt from a letter that I sent almost a year ago to a person in authority at the school I am currently attending to obtain my doctorate.

April 3, 2009

The issue of required health insurance for students has been a cause for serious concern for me since I began attending school at this institution almost two years ago. The fact that funds have been deducted, without my permission, each school term in alleged accordance to school policy is unacceptable. This academic year the cost of health insurance mandated by the institution, per term, represents the cost of housing for a month for a low-income single adult and groceries for a week combined. Stop deducting the cost of health insurance that I do not need, or have requested, from my federal financial aid. I do not need, nor can I afford, health insurance through any institution.
Early in the fall of the academic year 2007-2008, I expressed my concerns regarding this deduction. I explained to a representative of the office of Student Services, at length and in detail, how I resolve health care concerns. I was told that if I did not have health care coverage through the college that I was required to have coverage through another source.
Approximately one month ago, I spoke with a representative of the office of Student Services again requesting hard copy documentation to support the college policy regarding health insurance coverage. I did not receive the documentation that I requested. In light of this turn of events, this policy must be discontinued.
The amount of the current deduction for health care coverage is threatening my ability to provide for my basic needs such as food, utilities, and housing. It is illogical for me to waste money on insurance coverage that I cannot use, particularly when the deduction threatens my basic survival. The principal cornerstone of good health is a good diet. Supplying this basic need in a reasonable fashion has become problematic in my life. The stress of attempting to budget around this wasteful expenditure is a threat to my health. In addition, deducting funding from the poor to support the chronically ill is unconscionable. I will reiterate, stop deducting the cost of health care insurance that I do not need, that I do not want, and can not afford from my federal financial aid loan funding.

Respectfully,
Nusaybah Niara Bey

When I had pneumonia for the first time in my life last summer, I had to come out of pocket to pay for the doctor's visit, laboratory tests, and an ineffective antibiotic in spite of the alarming amount that I am paying for health insurance as a medical student. In spite of that and fortunately for me at the time, I stumbled upon a paper written by a medical doctor which detailed the procedure for nebulizing colloidal silver and successfully treated myself. I can't begin to imagine what other people would have done in a similar situation. I am still wondering if my school ever attempted to form a consortium arrangement of some sort with other schools to reduce the cost of coverage to their students who are stuck in mandatory enrollment for insurance. In closing, I believe that it would be extremely helpful to me and other students in similar circumstances if the President, and those who assist him, could find a way to increase regulation of insurance companies to not only improve our access to basic health care, but to make is far more affordable for those of us required to have it.