Avoiding trips to the emergency room – or avoiding health insurance altogether – could lower students’ healthcare costs as insurance rates rise across the nation.

Health insurance premium rates are up 73 percent since 2000, far outpacing the rate of inflation and wage growth, which grew 3.5 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, according to the 2005 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey.

Todd Holcomb, ISU associate vice president for student affairs, said some students are opting not to have insurance because they think they’re young, invincible and the odds are with them.

“This is a great opportunity for students to understand policy decisions on the national level and how it affects them as individuals paying taxes,” he said. “Students don’t fully understand health costs, health insurance and how voting, or not voting, plays out in their individual lives.”

Wanda Kellogg, ISU human relations specialist and student insurance coordinator, said not having insurance is something students have always done. Despite the rising costs though, the enrollment numbers in Iowa State’s student-insurance program have not been affected.

“Enrollment has remained steady over the last three years,” she said. “One thing that helps is the costs are split between the fall and spring semesters and financial aid can help pay for insurance too.”

Kellogg said they hope to see insurance rates level off. Holcomb said they are doing everything they can to hold premiums down by contacting various providers to obtain discounts.

Holcomb said the preliminary numbers are up, and the steady enrollment shows that students believe Iowa State’s program is a good plan. Holcomb recommends, however, students stay with their original plan if they are already covered by their parents’ insurance.

The high increases in insurance premiums appear to be a national trend, said Tim Ashley, manager of human resource services.

This isn’t a problem just found at Iowa State or even Iowa, but a problem found all over the United States, he said.

“Some areas will have higher increases than others, but it’s an overall trend,” Ashley said. “The increases are going to vary, but we’re all going to see an increase.”

Rising costs is a trend that is slowing, but has still seen double-digit increases during the past few years, said Angela Feig, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield corporate spokesperson and senior coordinator of media relations.

“Health care costs have gone up astronomically,” Feig said. “But Iowa’s insurance is lower than the national average, so we spend less here than other states.”

Kellogg said the largest factor is the rising cost in health care.

“However, we have higher labor costs because of the nursing shortage found in Iowa,” Feig said.

“Iowa is also one of the lowest reimbursed states for Medicare and Medicaid. Because we don’t get adequately reimbursed, insurance companies are forced to pay more and that means that their customers must pay more as well. This is called cost-shifting.”

“Premiums are what you pay for coverage, but that is driven by costs of service,” Ashley said. “And that is dependent on a lot of factors.”

There are other reasons costs have increased.

Some of the factors driving costs up are the increasing cost of delivering health care as well as prescription drugs, new technology and the number of times people use the emergency room.

Ashley said if people never use the emergency room, the cost to use one will go down.

“Try not to go to the emergency room because it costs far less to go to the doctor,” Feig said.

“I wouldn’t go to the emergency room if you get home from work and just can’t stand your ear ache.”