Insurance Won't Be Mandatory For MSU Students
EAST LANSING (WWJ/AP) - Michigan State University has dropped mandatory health insurance for students after opposition from lawmakers.
Officials said Friday that insurance available through the school will be voluntary, but they'll still ask if students have coverage this fall. Only 320 students were automatically signed up last year.
But one of them was the son of a state lawmaker, Rep. Jeff Farrington, R-Utica, who got a bill. It turned out that Farrington's son had insurance.
In February, MSU Provost Kim Wilcox told lawmakers that the insurance requirement was intended to protect students from big bills in case of illness or injury. The university-sponsored plan would have cost students $940 for the spring semester and $1,505 for the full academic year — or only about $4 a day.
MSU estimates about 90 percent of its incoming students have health insurance. The school had approximately 47,131 students enrolled last fall.
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