EDUCATION REPORT - Foreign Student Series 11>Health Insuranc

EDUCATION REPORT - November 28, 2002: Foreign Student Series¹ #11>Health Insurance

By Nancy Steinbach

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We continue our series of reports about how foreign students can study at an American college or university. This
information also can be found on the Special English Web² page at w-w-w dot voaspecialenglish dot com.

Last week, we told about the costs of attending an American college or university. Today, we tell about one cost
that foreign students may not know about — health insurance.

Foreign students may not know about the requirement³ for health insurance, especially if they do not need it in
their own countries. However, Americans are responsible⁴ for their own medical costs. These can be extremely⁵
high in cases of serious illness or accidents. The purpose of health insurance is to make sure that these costs will
be paid for.

Most full-time⁶ students at American universities must have health insurance. This is because colleges are not able
to pay the high costs of medical care if a student suffers a serious accident or sickness.

Many American colleges have health centers where doctors and nurses treat students’ medical problems. This
service may be included in the cost of attending college. Health insurance is usually needed for extra services.

Students may already be protected under their family’s health insurance plan. If not, many colleges offer their
own insurance plans.

For example, students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor⁷ are treated without charge for minor⁸ medical
problems at the university health center. But the university suggests that students buy its health insurance plan to
pay for other health services. The cost is about one-thousand-three-hundred dollars a year. Such health insurance
plans generally pay for hospital services, emergency room care and visits to doctors. They usually do not pay for
care of the teeth or eyeglasses.

The University of Michigan requires international students to buy the university health insurance, or have private
insurance that is approved by the university. Students can buy an independent insurance policy⁹ from insurance
companies. The details of each policy are different. Usually, insurance pays for visits to doctors and hospital
costs. Officials at American universities generally want to be sure that any possible health costs of their
international students will be paid.

This VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT was written by Nancy Steinbach.

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1 series   

n.连续；系列

参考例句：

• The students have put forward a series of questions.学生们提出了一系列问题。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

2 web   

n.网，蛛丝，蹼，织物，圈套，卷筒纸；vi.生蹼，形成网；vt.织蜘蛛网于，使落入圈套

参考例句：

• The spider weaves a web.蜘蛛织网。
• You mean the World Wide Web?你是说国际互联网？

3 requirement   

n.需要，要求，请求，规定，必要条件

参考例句：

• Patience is a requirement in teaching.耐心是教学必备的条件。
• Your requirement that she wait till next week is reasonable.你要求她等到下周是有道理的。

4 responsible   

adj.有责任的，应负责的；可靠的，可信赖的；责任重大的；vi.休息，睡；静止，停止

参考例句：

• He must be responsible to me for this matter.这件事他必须对我负责。
• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。

5 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

6 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

7 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

8 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

9 policy   

n.政策，方针，保险单

参考例句：

• This policy is very tough.这个政策是很强硬的。
• The country has always pursued a policy of peace.该国一直奉行和平政策。