I served an LDS mission, got married, went to college and pharmacy school – and started a family. We were offered Medicaid to pay for our babies and my wife flatly refused. Because the LDS Church encourages self-reliance, we knew that our children were our responsibility. Taking government handouts, or expecting others to pay for them, was not just wrong, but immoral. We purchased a high deductible catastrophic health insurance, which was affordable even for college students. We then negotiated a payment plan with a doctor and a hospital. After graduation, we lived modestly until we had paid our obligations.
I wonder why so many college students so readily accept Medicaid. Did they think Medicaid is just a free government grant for college students like a Pell grant? Or worse, were they so lacking in integrity that they actually thought they were being clever by having babies in college so someone else would have to pay for them?
Most of the students using Medicaid all seem to have the same excuse. They claim they are taking out of "the system" and when they graduate they will pay taxes and pay into "the system." There may be a Perpetual Education Fund, but there is no perpetual baby fund.
Cole M. Brinkerhoff
Hooper