Letter from Boston Student Health Care By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
学生の健康保険制度 長い間歯科医に行かなかった雅子さんは、先日、ようやく大学近くの日本人歯科医を訪れました。診察の結果、多額の治療費を必要とする、大がかりな治療が必要だと言われてしまいました。この治療には、健康保険がききませんし、大学が提供する歯科医学生による治療のサービスも信用できそうにありません。

After many years of neglecting to care for my teeth, I finally decided to see a dentist. My last dentist was the one I had as a child in New Jersey, so I had to start by asking around for recommendations.

I ended up consulting the local Japanese magazine that I work for and got the name of a Japanese dentist who works only 10 minutes away from the Boston University campus. Since most dentists do not work on weekends, close access to my workplace was important. I also liked the idea of his being a professor.

I liked the dentist a lot, but his prognosis after my first visit was not very good. Not only were there many little cavities that needed to be filled, I also needed to have some major repairs done on previous dental work. Most notably, I would need to have root canal surgery. That would mean that I would need to have my tooth capped. This would cost thousands of dollars.

After this consultation, I decided to look at my dental insurance options. I stepped into the dentist's fully expecting to pay for everything myself, but I wasn't so sure that was a good idea after the appointment. Unfortunately, the den tal options that are available to people who don't have corporate dental plans are often quite limited. Not surprisingly, major pre-existing conditions, like my infected root canal, are not warmly embraced by insurance companies.

BU requires that all full-time students have medical insurance and it offers a relatively inexpensive plan to its students. It's not the most generous of medical plans, but it covers regular checkups and consultations for specific ailments such as strange coughs, rashes and eye infections. It partially covers visits to specialists such as physical therapists or dermatologists and subsidizes some prescriptions.

Although students are free to choose whatever health insurance plan they like, most students take advantage of this plan because it's convenient.

The university does not offer a similar dental insurance plan. The closest thing it has is a "membership card" that enables students to utilize the services of the BU Dental School at a reduced cost.

For instance, regular checkups, cleanings, X-rays and minor work like filling cavities might cost only $200 (¥21,000) a year. Specialized services such as root canal work cost less than half of the standard fee. However, the catch is that the work is done by dental students. They use their patients to hone their skills.

I've heard numerous complaints about very slow (or, worse, incompetent) work and long hours spent getting to the dental school or sitting in the waiting room. This was not very appealing.

Some hard-working members of the Boston University Graduate Student Organization have compiled a list of health and dental options that are available to us, so I skimmed through the list.

Although I was impressed by their thorough research, I found that many of the plans didn't fit my needs very well. Some students get subsidized health and medical care that is meant for people with financial hardships — students are technically considered low-income citizens. But I knew that my freelance earnings would put me out of this category. Besides, I couldn't help thinking that it's a little bit unethical for (physically and mentally capable) students who have actively chosen to live in a state of semipoverty to take public resources that are meant for the truly needy.

In the end, I decided to cut my losses and pay cash for the services of the dentist I had originally chosen, and whom I liked. I was prepared to tighten my budget to cover the fee. However, when I went for my second visit, I was told that I would not be needing the root canal surgery.

Several dental professors had discussed my case and had agreed to leave the tooth alone until it started bothering me. I was startled by their honesty. Many dentists would try to push fancy treatments on patients at the slightest hint of trouble. And I was relieved that I wouldn't have to suspend my current lifestyle. I felt so good about "saving" thousands of dollars that I left the office and treated myself to a nice lunch.

Shukan ST: Nov. 19, 1999

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