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 The issue of health insurance could play a key role in next month's election, but that's not the only reason students should pay close attention to this issue.
Some students are covered by their parents' insurance policy as long as they're full-time students.
But many are surprised when they receive notice from the insurance company that they will be dropped in 30 days, when they reach a particular age.
Erin Brummett is a fifth-year senior planning to graduate in December. She will be kicked off of her parents' insurance next week when she turns 23.
"I considered going without for a couple of months," Brummett said. "However, I have terrible luck, and I was pretty sure those two months where I didn't have insurance would be the time something would happen. One emergency room visit without insurance is 10 grand, and then you're in debt."
The Omaha native said she was relieved that she was given more than just the required month's notice and she and her parents were able to make arrangements to fill the void between mid-October and January, when she plans to enter the job force. Her mother worked with her employer to find another insurance plan that will cover Brummett as long as she remains a full-time student or until she is 25.
Click here to see a video on the challenges that UNL students face when it comes to health care.
More than 3,000 students have opted to get their insurance through the University Health Center. Danny Martin, a freshman from Minden, is one of those. But even those policies can expire before a student can even dream of hearing "Pomp and Circumstance."
"I got mine through the school, and it expires at the end of the semester," Martin said. "I don't know what I'm going to do after that. I guess I'll figure something out in the next couple of months."
Some students aren't able to find a policy that they or their parents can afford and opt to go without insurance.
"I've known friends who have injured themselves, and they don't go get medical attention because they don't have insurance and they don't want to pay for it," Brummett said. "It ends up being a bigger deal."
According to Bev Heiserman, student insurance coordinator at the University Health Center, things are better for students in the Midwest than for students on the coasts.
"At some of the schools on the east and west coasts, students are kicked off of their parents' policies sooner than some of the policies we have here in the Midwest," Heiserman said. "There's quite a difference from what the coasts have and what we have in the Midwest."
Depending on the insurance company and the region it's in, the age students are kicked off their parents' policy ranges from 18 all the way up to 30. That could be why parents are sometimes surprised to learn that their child will no longer be covered on their insurance policy.
"I get phone calls from parents all the time saying that they just found out their son or daughter is coming off of their policy and they want to know what we have, so we have to explain what we have to them," Heiserman said.
The fact that most insurance companies give their policyholders only 30 days notice may add to the surprise.
"Usually about 30 days is how much notice the insurance companies give," Heiserman said. "They need to notify you in writing of any changes within 30 days."
Brummett's situation and the situations her friends have gone through have only reinforced her belief that Americans need national health care.
"I'm a nursing student, so I already knew this was a huge issue, and I've always been about national health care," Brummett said. "I think if anything ... I knew I couldn't go without insurance for two months because I see that over and over in the hospital."
Situations like those faced by Brummett and Martin add to the pressure on the candidates to propose changes to America's health care problems. The answers they propose could make a difference to the election outcome.
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