From: mth015@muvms3.bitnet
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china,soc.culture.taiwan,soc.culture.hongkong
Subject: Re: [Repost] Ridiculous Health Insurance Plan [Part 1]
Date: 25 Jul 92 15:56:50 GMT
Organization: Marshall University

In article <1992Jul23.000834.4529@ecl.psu.edu>, l1z@ecl.psu.edu writes:
> 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.
>As far as I know, the premium of this insurance is very reasonable.
The question is do we (chinese people) need insurance or not. One of my friend
is making more than $80,000 a year without any life insurence. That is
unthinkable for Americans. I see the difference between cultures. We still
don't understand (may never understand) why we should throw $$$ away to get 
seems unnecessray insurances.