Heading to Grad School Without Health Insurance
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Alanna Miller, a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, has no
health insurance.
(Newsline photo by Mike Santa Rita)
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Maryland Newsline
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Alanna Miller is hoping for a career in academia,
teaching film and television studies.
Currently, she’s looking at that future without health
insurance.
In January, a few weeks after graduating with a journalism
degree from the University
of Maryland, the 22-year-old was dropped from her father’s health insurance plan because
she was no longer a student.
The Raleigh, N.C., native now works between 30 and 35 hours
a week as an administrative assistant for the university's College of
Journalism.
Because she's paid on an hourly basis, Miller does not
qualify for health insurance, said Joyce Hutton,
coordinator for the college's business and finance office.
But she has prescriptions that need filling.
She said birth control pills cost her $35 a month, sleeping pills
$20 a month. Luckily her migraine pills haven’t run out yet.
She said she's not sure what their cost will be.
She said her parents have been helping her out financially since she
graduation, but she still has car payments and car insurance to pay.
Regular doctor's checkups and gynecologist visits are coming up.
Luckily, she has not had to confront the question of
hospital bills.
“I haven’t gotten sick yet,” she said.
Her college classes convinced her that reporting was
not her field. She was recently accepted to Syracuse University's graduate
school where she may
go to study film theory and television studies. She has also been accepted at
the University of Miami's graduate school. Once she enrolls in grad school, she
said she may sign
up for a college health plan, but she is not certain.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” she said.
In the mean time, for Miller, getting health insurance may involve
slinging coffee.
“I hear they give excellent health benefits at Starbucks,
which I’ve actually looked into,” she said.
-- By Mike Santa Rita
Copyright © 2005 University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism
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