Wing it.

It’s what many students, including senior David Bashaw, will do when they graduate from college and are dropped from their parent’s health care plans.

Bashaw, who will be dropped from his parent’s plan when he turns 25, has a job lined up that will provide health insurance. In the meantime, he will remain uninsured for about a month if all goes according to plan.

But he said he’s not worried.

“Nothing major’s happened so far,” he said. “It’s my luck something will, but I’m hoping that it won’t.”

Chris Powell, sales agent for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, N17 W24340 Riverwood Dr., Waukesha, said many of students think nothing is going to happen to them.

“It’s basically one of those things people don’t feel they need to get checked out until they’re older,” he said.

Young people think they’re invincible, said Don Southard, whose insurance company, Southard Insurance Agency, Inc., has been servicing UW-Eau Claire’s Student Health Care Program since 1965. The university’s Student Health Care Program is managed by Student Senate and is located in the basement of Davies Center.

“If you didn’t have health insurance today and you had an accident, would you be able to pay the medical bills?” Southard said. “With today’s medical care costs, it’s a large gamble.”

Until age 24 and 25, most people remain insured under their parent’s health care plans, Powell said, and once they get out of college and into the work environment, they go without coverage because they don’t think they need it. Ironically, he added, they are at the best age to receive coverage because it is so inexpensive.

It is mostly males that go uninsured because females are generally better about getting annual checkups, Powell said.

Many employers don’t want to cover the dependents of their workers once they are of adult age, Powell said, adding some cancel them at age 19, some at 21. He said many companies share the mentality, “now that you’re not a student, you’re not under mom and dad’s house anymore. It’s time to grow up and take responsibility for yourself.”

With an Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, dependents are not dropped until age 25, Powell said.

One plan offered by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, like that of other providers, includes an office co-pay and a prescription co-pay. This means when a patient makes a medical payment, they need only pay a deductible, regardless of how many times that patient sees their doctor.

“The doctor might want to charge $150 for that visit, but you pay $35 and that’s all that will cost you for the visit,” Powell said.

Those who require preventative care may choose a different route. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield’s preventative care plan is such that if the patients do not pay for preventative checkups.

“Most younger folks don’t want to get a checkup every year because they don’t want to pay for it,” Powell said. “But if it’s not going to cost you anything, why wouldn’t you go?”

Under this plan, if someone does have a health problem, they pay a previously agreed upon deductible and the company pays the rest.

Which plan a young person chooses, Powell said, depends on their health history.

“Everybody is different,” he said. “Everybody has different needs to fulfill.”

Eau Claire students who receive health care through the university have the option of continuing their plan for a full year after graduation, Southard said.

If a student graduates from college and is dropped from their parent’s plan, Southard said, they have a couple options. They may receive it through their prospective employer as a group or they could pay for health insurance on a monthly basis until they become a part of a company that will take care of those needs for them.

Many graduates who are not covered choose not to find a plan, Southard said.

“That can put them in a financial hole they might not dig out of for years and years,” he said.

Most health care products are going to be quite similar, Southard said, co-pay and 100 percent after the co-pay.

Southard said he gets calls asking about the health program every month from students who cannot be covered because they have a pre-existing condition.

Under UW-Eau Claire’s Student Health Care Program, the pre-existing clause is such that any accident or condition existing prior to the student’s enrollment in the university’s health program will not be covered for one full year until it is either covered or waived, which, Southard said, is already too late. After 12 months of continuous coverage, he said, then it’s covered, assuming the student has the health insurance.

“If they don’t spend the money and buy the coverage,” he said, “It’s still not going to be covered.”

Senior Katie Prill said she is currently covered under her parent’s plan and will be dropped in December. Luckily, she will graduate in May and will be employed in September by a company that offers health care benefits.

Prill said she thinks students don’t buy health insurance plans because they don’t have any money.

Unfortunately, Powell said, the price of insurance is always going up.

“It costs most to run a hospital; doctors want to get paid more; everyone in the industry wants to get paid more,” he said. “Inflation. That’s it in a nutshell.”