In Sight and In Mind: The Realities of Healthcare at Harvard

“In Sight, Out of Mind” and its corresponding student movement for Harvard healthcare reform fail to realize how expansive student benefits are at Harvard. The student who wrote “In Sight, Out of Mind” was not covered by the Harvard University Student Health Insurance Plan, meaning that she/he waived coverage. Thus, the oped should not be used as a critique of the University health plan that covers most students, including those on financial aid. The debate about health at Harvard has incorrectly intertwined UHS and the student insurance plan.
Harvard’s health plan is comparable to or better than those of peer universities and is a luxury in comparison to other institutions for higher learning. While Harvard’s 24 visit limit for inpatient and outpatient care does indeed present a challenge for students, the other Ivies have similar limits and parameters. Cornell’s plan, for instance, covers costs after admittance into a hospital for mental illness only after a $200 copayment (though it does allow 40 outpatient visits). Princeton, among the best of the health insurance providers, allows for 30 inpatient visits and 30 outpatient visits, but does not pay copayments for psychiatric admission. The Ivy League schools, due to their advanced funding, provide health services superior to other universities. Lesley University, for instance, requires only that students have insurance, and offers no comprehensive plan of their own.
All Harvard students have access to inpatient and outpatient care, ambulance services, and emergency services. By comparison, Massachusetts Health Care mandates have no such requirements. So while Harvard students are covered for travel in the US and abroad, chiropractic care, and termination of pregnancy, and receive no copayments for gynecology and Hospital admittance, most people have vastly inferior health plans. So yes, we students at Harvard can continue to bemoan the 24 visit limit and complain about the administration, but we should remain cognizant of how fickle our complaints must sound to those covered by baseline insurance or not covered by insurance at all.