This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
We continue our series of reports about how foreign students
can study at an American college or university. This information
also can be found on the Special English Web page at w-w-w dot
voaspecialenglish dot com.
Last week, we told about the costs of attending an American
college or university. Today, we tell about one cost that foreign
students may not know about ? health insurance.
Foreign students may not know about the requirement for health
insurance, especially if they do not need it in their own countries.
However, Americans are responsible for their own medical costs.
These can be extremely high in cases of serious illness or accidents.
The purpose of health insurance is to make sure that these costs
will be paid for.
Most full-time students at American universities must have
health insurance. This is because colleges are not able to pay
the high costs of medical care if a student suffers a serious
accident or sickness.
Many American colleges have health centers where doctors and
nurses treat students¡¯ medical problems. This service
may be included in the cost of attending college. Health insurance
is usually needed for extra services.
Students may already be protected under their family¡¯s
health insurance plan. If not, many colleges offer their own
insurance plans.
For example, students at the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor are treated without charge for minor medical problems
at the university health center. But the university suggests
that students buy its health insurance plan to pay for other
health services. The cost is about one-thousand-three-hundred
dollars a year. Such health insurance plans generally pay for
hospital services, emergency room care and visits to doctors.
They usually do not pay for care of the teeth or eyeglasses.
The University of Michigan requires international students
to buy the university health insurance, or have private insurance
that is approved by the university. Students can buy an independent
insurance policy from insurance companies. The details of each
policy are different. Usually, insurance pays for visits to
doctors and hospital costs. Officials at American universities
generally want to be sure that any possible health costs of
their international students will be paid.
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This V-O-A Special English Education Report
was written by Nancy Steinbach, courtesy of VOAnews.com
