Hope you get better and don't die

---By Rep. Matt Quandt

One of the strangest bills to come before us on the Commerce Committee is House Bill 37. It deals with dependant children who are full time college students and on a family plan for health insurance. This issue arose last year when a sweet, kind and super young woman was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She was a student at Plymouth State College while her mother is a schoolteacher in Pembroke, NH. The mother’s family insurance is self funded and administered to by a HMO insurance company. Keep in mind that self-funded insurance programs do not fall under the NH Insurance Department for regulation they fall under the department of labor.

When Michelle was diagnosed with cancer the insurance administrator made a decision that since Michelle was having such medical problems she could not continue with school because of the extensive medical treatment required and would have to drop out. The plan administrator contacted the mother and told her that they were going to drop Michelle because she could no longer be a student. Michelle was still in school then, fighting not only to keep up with her academics but also her life in her valiant fight to live. The mother contacted the New Hampshire Insurance Department who could not help and told her to contact the NH Legislature since we make the laws.

The battle began. To my surprise our own leadership was not supportive of this legislation. They seemed to have the votes to kill this bill in committee. One opposing member argued that insurance companies cover collage students on a voluntary basis and if we mandated any coverage they could refuse to accept college-age people.

From two seats down came the response, “That is a red herring and bogus argument, I have two college age kids, both on my family plan for $600 per month and neither kid has used a $100 worth of health care a year since they have been on the plan. That means in 4 years I have paid about $30,000 for about $400 in health care delivery, economics dictates that the insurance companies will continue to insure their healthiest population and their biggest moneymaker. I have had relatives die of cancer, I have been around people who were dying, and they all wanted to live. Part of a successful cancer treatment program is to have hope. If you are young, maybe to finish college, get married, and have kids. If you are older to watch your grandchildren grow up. I am not going to look into this girl’s eyes and tell her I will not give her hope."

You might have guessed that two seats down to my left is where my father sits.

After this, the committee did not have the votes to ITL the bill and the bill was retained for further study and review. I am on the sub-committee studying this and we are still working to get a ”clean” bill out, that is one without any amendments. As best as we could figure the administrator for the mother’s insurance program wanted to get Michelle off the program because of the added expense that would be generated by her extensive treatment. There is no way to prove that was their motivation; but that is the way the issue appears to have come up, since this bill only affects about six students statewide.

On a very sad note after recently talking to the mother, Michelle is in rapid regression and is back in the hospital. There is doubt that Michelle will be with us at Christmas but if that is God's will it is God’s will. We will do everything we can to see that “Michelle’s Bill”, making sure college students can stay on health insurance coverage when situations like this happen, will live on.

Matt Quandt
State Representative
Exeter-Stratham-North Hampton.