Published: April 2, 2009

According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, 28.1 percent of Americans ages 18-24 were uninsured in 2007. As layoffs and benefit cuts continue day after day, even students with health insurance from their parents must worry that financial disaster might soon strike their family, leaving them suddenly without coverage. Some students and young people who do not have insurance and cannot afford to pay for tests or prescriptions rely on Google or WebMD to self-diagnose, as Melissa Mata found in her Features article “Paging Dr. Google: Uninsured Students Seek Alternatives to Healthcare.” Mata also found that some students are even buying or “borrowing” prescription drugs from their friends, which could be dangerous, instead of getting them from a doctor.

However, there may be hope on the horizon. As assistant news editors Kathryn Feeney and Ashley Tedesco found in their article “Fordham Seeks to Assist Uninsured Students, Alumni,” Fordham administrators are working to extend the insurance options currently provided to staff and full- and part-time students to recent graduates.

According to Gregory Pappas, the assistant vice president for student affairs, if this plan takes effect, it will begin with students who graduate in the spring of 2009, and Fordham grads will be able to participate in the program for up to two years. We must commend the effort, and we urge the University to ensure that this issue stays at the top of the agenda.

Fordham has created a tight-knit community among its current students and faculty, but the University can use this new program to help foster a sense of community among recent graduates. After all, we must be in top shape to compete in the market before it recovers. This means being in good health. We must be able to check in with a doctor when we are sick, to afford necessary prescriptions and take care of ourselves if emergencies arise. Fordham is a school that strives to care for the whole person. It is unacceptable that some students feel they must avoid a doctor, or forgo healthcare altogether, and diagnose and treat their ailments using Google and borrowed prescriptions.

The University must take this opportunity to provide support to members of our community, even after they’ve paid their last tuition bills.