Public School Health Insurance Issues

Current Public School Health Insurance Issues

Public school employees and students are not exempt from the current health care crisis. Not all teachers, staff, and students have adequate health care coverage. Within the public schools this is a particularly important topic since sick days and recovery time away from school impact the total education experience.

Additionally, a great health insurance package can attract high quality teachers to schools. High quality teachers improve the schools, and better schools make for neighborhoods that people want to move to. By the same token, a public school system offering health insurance to students will certainly attract new residents. This is advantageous for the community’s economy in addition to helping people acquire quality health insurance when they may not otherwise be able to afford it.

Insurance for Teachers and Staff

Why is it so important to properly insure the teachers and staff within the public school system? The more preventative care afforded to teachers, the less likely the need for substitute teachers because the teachers spend less time recovering from illness. Sick teachers disrupt the flow of learning for the students, lessening the benefit of school for the students.

Among the public school health insurance issues, one of the most prevalent concerns is the fact that teachers are notoriously underpaid for the work they do. The health insurance coverage they receive must be affordable, attainable, and allow for preventative care in order to avoid illness as much as possible. Ideally, the insurance should allow for retiring teachers to have the option of continuing with coverage.

Insurance for Students

Picking up minor illnesses is commonplace among students, simply because they are constantly surrounded by other people on a regular basis. This wouldn’t be a huge issue for students who are healthy and who have excellent preventative health insurance coverage, but a great deal of public school students have no health insurance at all. This means that catching a simple illness at school can result in missing school, and therefore affect the students’ academic performance. Students who miss a lot of school due to illness may be less likely to eventually make it to graduation because they get so far behind that they decide to drop out.

Some cities have introduced initiatives to provide health insurance to all students enrolled within the public school system. For example, the city of Portland in the state of Oregon has an organization called Why Not Portland which is championing for low-deductible health care for every single student within the Portland school system. Other initiatives exist within other areas of the country.

Teachers on Strike

It is not uncommon for public school teachers to include better health insurance coverage within their lists of demands if they go on strike. Teachers and other staff members often feel as though they do not receive the coverage they deserve. Anytime teachers go on strike it has the potential to cause big problems within the community. Obviously, public school health insurance issues are serious.

Companies Providing Health Insurance

Some public schools have impressive health insurance coverage for public school staff and administrative support members. Companies providing medical coverage to public school employees include:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Aetna
• Health-Insurance.org

There is also a large number of companies offering discount health insurance to college students attending public universities and colleges.

The Dilemma

Public school staff members are notoriously underpaid, and school-aged children are chronically underinsured. Perpetually denying proper health insurance coverage to these groups will result in continued problems within the public school system.

Affordable health care coverage is a national problem, but it is particularly emphasized within this group.