Over the summer, AU changed its student health insurance plan from Chickering to GM Southwest, a Blue Cross company. It was a relatively mundane change, done in the most part because GM Southwest provided similar benefits with a similar premium and also kept their annual cost-of-living increase lower than Chickering did. This is a change that makes good fiscal sense and should save AU students money.
Still Dan Bruey, director of the Student Health Center, missed a golden opportunity to extend coverage to the HPV vaccine Gardasil. Gardasil is a vaccine, received in three separate shots, that prevents the HPV virus from causing cervical cancer in women. The HPV virus affects about 15,000 women a year and will kill roughly 4,000 in 2008. Bruey and other AU administrators have discussed covering the vaccine since it was first approved in 2006 but due to a host of reasons have continually declined to extend coverage.
The first reason is purely financial; covering the HPV vaccine would add between $40 and $70 per year. This added cost would force either an increase in the premiums or a decrease in the coverage in other areas.
The second reason is a moral one. Bruey doesn't believe that it is fair to force an increase in price over a vaccine that affects only some students, namely women.
While it is nice to see that Bruey and others responsible for health care have the overall interests of the students in mind we believe that they are being shortsighted and are consequently shortchanging the students. Any woman who is sexually active is at risk for contracting HPV and therefore is at risk of developing cancer. While it is rare for women to be diagnosed with cervical cancer at college age many will contract the virus during their years spent at AU. It is years later that they will finally have to come to terms with their lack of access to the vaccine. Does a $40 increase in premiums really justify the possible dangers posed down the road?
Furthermore the HPV vaccine can help everyone. While men are admittedly less likely to contract the disease, more than 3,000 still do every year. The HPV vaccine would also ensure that men's sexual partners are free of HPV. Cancer is also not like the flu in that it affects everyone, not just those sick. Years from now everyone, including insurance companies, will benefit as the prevalence of cervical cancer falls drastically. AU covering the vaccine is a small way to contribute to the overall welfare of all Americans in the future.
