Make sure you get sick during office hours only
- posted: 11 Dec. 2007
- scrollopinion@byui.edu
Health care is one of the big issues that U.S. presidential candidates are debating this election season. But while John Edwards and Barack Obama battle it out in Iowa, BYU-Idaho may be facing its own lurking health care controversy.
BYU-I’s Student Health Center (SHC) consists of a staff of five physicians and practitioners, two registered nurses, and other workers.
In spite of the staff’s reputation for excellent attention and professional service, its business hours, in combination with the policies outlined in the BYU-I Student Health Plan, can be less than accommodating for students obligated to use school insurance.
Take Laurie Summers, a senior studying math education, for example. Last semester, Laurie became very ill. When her symptoms heightened to the point of needing medical care, it was too late to visit the SHC.
“I would have gone to the Health Center had it been open,” Summers said. “It was 10 p.m., so I had to go to the hospital.”
The SHC is open for patients Monday-Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., precisely when most students are in class or at work. The center provides health care for a large number of students, but for many it is difficult to escape a busy schedule long enough for a check-up. It is, however, convenient to schedule an appointment online, as long as it falls within business hours.
Unfortunately, inconvenience is not the only side effect of the SHC’s operating schedule. The obligatory student health insurance policy, reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s mandated government health insurance program, requires students to use the SHC as their primary care provider.
The center’s shortened schedule not only causes difficulties for some students to obtain medical care, but also has no reasonable ability to attend to emergencies. The 2007-2008 Student Health Plan Handbook, provided by Deseret Mutual states, “Any service provided outside the SHC requires a referral from the SHC and preauthorization from Deseret Mutual.”
For after-hours emergencies that don’t involve a hospital emergency room, students must either fork out payment from their own pocket, or suffer in their apartments until the SHC opens at 8 a.m. If a student were to become ill on a Friday evening, he or she could have to wait as many as 60 hours to see a doctor. Such a lengthy wait could turn an illness into something far worse.
If university insurance is required for the majority of students, the school should accommodate students in emergencies. Insurance providers should not be able to cop out from fulfilling students’ health care needs. Those with decision-making power should review these issues and arrange for students to be covered for off-hours medical expenses if they occur during times when the SHC is not open. A retroactive referral option for after-hour emergencies would be a reasonable compromise. 
