From: l1z@ecl.psu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: Ridiculous Health Insurance Policy [part 1]
Date: 23 Jul 92 04:33:03 GMT
Organization: Engineering Computer Lab, Pennsylvania State University

We are a group of international students at the Pennsylvania State University
who suffered from the foreign-discrimination-biased extremely unfair health
insurance plan of this university that is manditarily imposed on us as condi-
tion for registration while we were completely unaware that such a health
insurance plan would be the manditary condition for registration when we first
came here. Some of us had payed the extremely expensive premiums for unwanted
coverages like husband's maternity etc to maintain their student status. Some
others are making the painful decision to separate their family and send their
husbands or wifes, and their children, back to homeland, to reduce the expense
for health insurance. While still some others are still refusing to pay the
unfair insurance and hopelessly fighting against the unjustice. They may lose
their student status and be forced to terminate their study if they are unable
to pay the premium for next year's and last year's (yes, LAST year's) insurance
by August 25,1992. We are telling the whole story here and seeking external
support from you. We are also advising any international students who is
considering coming to Penn. State to think about its health insurance plan
besides it's academic aspects.

    This university's policy required that any international student come to
Penn. State in the Fall, 1990 or after must purchase the school's MEGA Health
Insurance plan or other insurance that stands up to the waive condition, for
both the student and his/her spouse and children as long as they are also in
the USA. We came here after Fall, 1990. However we never receive  or sign any
thing that shows that we must buy manditary health insurance plan. We don't
know it's manditary at all until we receive a letter from the university
telling us that our registration will be canceled if we do not fulfill our
obligation to buy insurance for our family members.

    We think that there's no such obligation that we must buy a certain kind
of insurance since we were never told to do so before we came and never sign
any thing that obligate us to do so, even from our own consideration we like
it very much to an insurance that we are in favor of for our family members.

    The University's MEGA Health Insurance plan has a premium as high as 
$600+ per year for the student itself, $1700-$1800 per year for the spouse,
and $800+ per year for each child. So a couple with one child will have to
spend nearly $3200.00 per year just on health insurance. Real expensive,
isn't it?!!

    For an insurance as high as $3200 per year, it should cover every thing
when you get illness, right?  Nope! It has a $50 deductible and the coverage
is only 80%. And there's numerous examptions in the 80% coverage. If you
just get a cold and see a doctor to get some medicine. The total cost doesn't
exceed $200 while you have to pay the $138 yourself! Having a baby will cost
you at least $2000.

    What about buying another insurance? The University has set very strict
conditions as the waive standard for buying other insurance instead of the
university's MEGA plan. They are:

        1. Covers all illness and injuries.
        2. Covers all pre-exist illness and injuries.
        3. Has a deductible not exceeding $1000 per individual, per year.
        4. Has a maximum benefit per illness not less than $50,000
        5. Covers both in-patient and out-patient expenses.
        6. Has maternity coverage.(No exceptions even for male). The coverage
           of maternity should be the same as other illness or better.
        7. Pay benefit worldwide.
        8. Has some provision for medical evacuation to the home country.

    We have done some investigation. If you want to buy insurance from any
insurance company that fits into the 8 conditions, they would either refuse
to sell it or ask a premium even higher than the University's MEGA plan. And
very few Americans would buy such an expensive health insurance. What shows
that this is a racial discrimination policy is that this policy only applys
to international students and American students are not required on the 
health insurance. 

    And the most ugly part of the story has not been told yet. For those of
us who has not buy the insurance for their spouses, the university has put an
hold on our registration for fall,1992. We are told that we must buy the
insurance for our family members for both the coming year (fall,1992 to fall,
1993) and for the PREVIOUS time (the time when our spouse first came here
untill now)!!! Has anybody heard of things like buying insurance for previous
years? However such thing happens at Penn. State here, maybe for the first
time in USA history.

    We are very aware that we are foreigners here. We are not protected by 
this country since we do not belong to it. We are not even protected by our
home country since we are far away from home. We do not have that kind of
freedoms and democracy and civil rights that every American has, because we
are not US citizens. We don't even have the channels to have our voice heard
by the public. We are a group of weak, homeless, and ignored minority in this
country which is supposed to be the most democratic one and has the most
freedom on the earth. We are strugling hopelessly.

    However, we still have a  little hope on the people of this country. We
believe rightfulness and justice is within them, whose constitute the spirit
of this country. We believe they can help us to resume fairness if they can
hear our voice, even we are foreigners. We believe the system will work!

    Please show your support and help us!


                         A group of international students
                         at the Pennsylvania State University