Opinion: A whole pandemic later, I still can’t access the Student Health Center
It’s been three years since COVID-19 taught us the importance of getting quick and efficient medical care. But NYU’s health center still has long wait times, making appointments inaccessible to students who need them.
(Ben Kang for WSN)
February 9, 2023
When you first get accepted to NYU, one of the very first things you have to do is make an online account with the Student Health Center. If you do not have your own insurance, you must also join Wellfleet, the insurance NYU provides. With yearly flu shots, annual physicals and COVID-19 tests, it is inevitable that students will have at least a few encounters with the SHC throughout their time at NYU.
Before the pandemic, the SHC received criticism for its long wait times for mental health services, despite the integral role the center plays in quality of life for NYU students. Three years into COVID-19, these issues should have improved. However, in many cases, they’ve worsened.
When you log into the portal, there are no appointments with specialists available for at least a month. With the amount of money that insurance costs, the most basic services should be readily available and easy to schedule.
I have seen this first-hand with my roommate, Aly Lezama, who must frequently see a dermatologist and an endocrinologist. Both appointments are a month away at the earliest. However, her primary care doctor through the SHC suggested that she seek medical attention as quickly as possible. The timeline of appointments available to her does not match up with the urgency of her needs. For someone with an NYU-sponsored insurance plan. Finding a doctor often requires a co-payment or other additional charge.
“Some of the specialists leave earlier,” Lezama said. “The SHC closes at 7 p.m., but some doctors leave at 6 p.m. It is really frustrating.”
With thousands of students being served by the SHC, the spots fill up very quickly. My roommate is one of many students who have to endure long wait times before getting the attention they need.
For a student to schedule an appointment with a specialist, they need to call the SHC directly instead of being able to do it online, through the SHC website. This is outdated; an option to schedule an appointment online would be much more efficient and accessible.
NYU consistently promotes the SHC and its resources for mental health needs. Despite that, many essential aspects of health care are not readily available to students.
NYU automatically charges students for insurance unless they manually opt-out of it through a separate interface — a process involving the signing of several waivers. By doing this, the university implies that it has the capacity to provide an accessible health system for all its students. But, for the students who don’t waive their plan and require the SHC’s services, it remains inaccessible due to abysmal wait times. Before putting this charge on every student’s bursar account, NYU should focus on the issues it couldn’t resolve throughout the pandemic, like the inability for students to schedule appointments they may desperately need.
It is fantastic that NYU provides somewhat affordable health insurance, but the university needs to take into account the needs of its students. Students should not have to worry about being able to afford a doctor’s visit outside of the Health Center. If they are paying for NYU-sponsored health insurance, they should be able to get the care they need.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or having suicidal thoughts, please call or text 988 to be connected with the the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
WSN’s Opinion section strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion section are solely the views of the writer.
Contact Astrid Arias at [email protected].
Gabrielle • Feb 12, 2023 at 5:27 pm
My daughter also has had many problems accessing healthcare at NYU, despite spending $5,004 a year for NYU’s student health insurance. She needed an appointment for a prescription and it’s almost five months later and she still doesn’t have it. Multiple-month waits for appointments is just one of the problems she and all of her NYU friends have had to deal with. My daughter was also told she couldn’t be seen same-day in the emergency room at NYU-Langone Well, she could wait five hours on the off chance there might be an availability, she was told. Now we are hit with a bill from Mt. Sinai, which is was able to see her right away. Her health insurance just paid $290.10 of the $1,874.84 bill.
Last year, she raced to a doctor’s appointment at NYU and then the receptionist deliberately waited until the deadline was past before addressing to her and then told her she was too late for the appointment. She refused to let her be seen despite the fact that there was no one else in the waiting room and it was early in the day. My daughter was in tears and also lost several hours of time at work and the associated pay. I am left with the impression that NYU does not care about its students’ health or finances.