Wilmington, NC News

CHAPEL HILL — An official at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimates that 10 percent of undergraduate students don’t have health insurance.

Student health service director Mary Covington told the system’s board of governors Thursday that a standard health plan is needed for the thousands of students.

Covington cited the example of a student who refused to see a surgeon for appendicitis because she had no health insurance. Covington says the woman ended up in a hospital when it ruptured.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported the board may consider the plan in August.

Eleven schools in the system require students to buy coverage. Five other campuses, including the Chapel Hill campus and North Carolina State in Raleigh, offer voluntary programs.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)