About 80 percent of college students aged 18 through 23 had health insurance in 2006, according to a report released March 28 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Analyzing data collected from 340 colleges on the availability of student insurance plans and the characteristics of available plans, the GAO learned that 67 percent of college students were covered through employer-sponsored plans, 7 percent were covered through other private health insurance plans, such as student insurance plans, and 6 percent were covered by public programs, such as Medicaid.
Most insured students were covered as a dependent on a policy under another person’s name. About 20 percent of college students aged 18 through 23 (1.7 million) were uninsured in 2006, and certain groups of students--such as part-time students, nonwhite students, and students from families with lower incomes--were more likely than others to be uninsured.
Colleges and states have taken a variety of steps to increase the number of insured college students, said the report. For example, GAO estimated that about 30 percent of colleges nationwide required students to have health insurance in academic year 2007-08, and some states also have health insurance requirements for college students. Download the report.
