Students enrolled at Iowa State may be required to have health insurance in the future.

“What we are doing is looking into that as a possibility,” said Terry Mason, chair of the student health insurance committee and interim associate vice president for students affairs.

ISU officials are looking into the pros and cons of requiring students to carry health insurance before making any decisions, said Mason, who is also the director of the student counseling center.

“We also want to get input from the students,” said Mason.

ISU health officials agreed there are several advantages for requiring all students to have health insurance, he said. If a student does not have health insurance and gets into an unexpected accident they may not be able to afford adequate treatment, Mason said.

Marc Shulman, chief of staff for the Thielen Student Health Center, said once a student has health insurance, they can’t be denied coverage at the health center in the future if a health problem should arise.

Last year, the Thielen Student Health Center conducted a small survey to determine the number of ISU students who are uninsured.

“In that survey we found that 20 percent of the kids did not have health insurance,” said Colleen Schalinske, office manager at the student health center.

Although students would not be required to carry the university’s health insurance, Schalinske said Iowa State does offer an affordable plan.

“When we have compared our rates to other universities, we are on the lower end,” she said.

Individual health insurance is offered through the university and Chickering Student Health Insurance for $846 a year. A student and family can be insured for $5,780 a year.

Iowa State is not the only school considering mandatory health insurance. The University of Iowa is considering requiring their students to be insured.

Dr. Mary Khowassah, director of the University of Iowa student health service, said she believes between 10 to 15 percent of students who attend the University of Iowa are uninsured.

“They could financially be devastated from not having insurance,” she said.

Before either university can decide to require health insurance, the decision must be approved by the Board of Regents.

Barb Boose, communications specialist for the Board of Regents, said the health insurance issue is not on the agenda at this time.

Mason said the earliest Iowa State would implement a policy of requiring students to carry insurance would be next fall.