Mandatory health insurance only a possibility
Contrary to what some students believe, USU administration is not currently requiring health insurance for all students. But if the Board of Regents in the state of Utah pass an initiative proposed by Gov. Jon Huntsman, the mandatory insurance will be implemented at USU.
And if the state of Utah’s initiative – a hard waiver insurance policy where all higher education students must have adequate health insurance – goes through in the next few years, then USU will be ready, thanks to the passing of the Health Insurance Regulation with a 5 to 3 vote by the Associated Students of USU Tuesday night.
“Students somehow feel that this implies that the university is in favor of it going through,” said Josh Schultz, student advocate.
Although the university is not completely in favor of the initiative, administrators plan on being prepared with a way to provide insurance to all students.
The state initiative, originating at the University of Utah, has not been approved and will take a few years to pass, said Jake Roskelley, public relations director for ASUSU.
“Everybody that I’ve talked to has told me, ‘Don’t vote for this,'” Troy Smith, executive vice president of ASUSU, said.
Roskelley said most students don’t understand that the initiative is mandated by the state and that it’s not a bill – it’s a resolution.
“I believe as people are educated about it they would be all for it,” said Leah Taylor, ASUSU service vice president.
Another issue students may be concerned about is whether or not the insurance price would be included in tuition, and Dr. Jim Davis, the director of the Student Health and Wellness Center, assures students it would not.
“We would never include it in tuition because your parents have the right to purchase insurance for you and we accept that,” Davis said. “We would never pretend to say you have to have this plan or that plan. We just want you to have a plan,” he added.
ASUSU didn’t want to have the hard insurance waiver deter students from attending the university, and Academic Senate President Michelle Lundberg said she thinks that is contrary to the mission of the university.
“The question is: Do we have the right to tell people that they can’t get an education if they don’t have insurance?” Lundberg said.
In the meeting, two amendments were added to the resolution. One specified that students with economic distress would have to prove their difficulty to the Student Health Advisory Committee to determine exemptions to the policy.
“Most students don’t like it because they feel they can’t afford it, and this resolution now takes care of that issue,” said Maure Smith, graduate student senate president.
One member of the council was opposed to the resolution but supported the amendment to it.
“This is what we would like as students. We want this out for students if they really can’t afford it,” Lundberg said.
The other amendment to the resolution refers to an insurance consortium, to be implemented when it goes statewide.
“The premiums from the get-go are going to be somewhat low,” Smith said. “If the state goes with it, then you’re going to have mass chaos – everybody’s going to try to find their lowest premiums, but not everybody will be united. So they won’t be able to find those lowest premiums until about five years down the line when they finally come together.”
But Davis assured the council that the insurance plan was a good idea.
“This is the only plan the uninsurable can get,” Davis said.
He said the university is not going to require that students go through a certain insurance company, but he explained the benefits of having a new insurance policy.
“There is no underlining here. There’s no questions about a previous neurological disease, or kidney disease, or hospitalization, or asthma, none of that,” Davis said. “You’re automatically enrollable by virtue of being a student, and that means that this is the safety net plan that we can’t let go away, because there are several dozens of students on campus for whom this is the only plan.”
Weber State University did away with their insurance, and their students are uninsurable, Davis said.
Davis said that the “safety net” plan requires $50,000 coverage, and international students are already required by the federal government to have it.
The council also brought up the issue of the Student Health and Wellness Center fee and asked if it would go down with the required health insurance. Davis said the health fee could be dropped, but it’s a different issue they have not gone over yet.
“It’s a totally separate issue as to whether or not the student health center were to deal with insurance,” Davis said. “It’s obviously a related issue, but it’s not on the table right now. It’s something we could consider, but this issue really deals more with off-campus services and where they will refer to specialists and x-rays and things that people need that the health center doesn’t provide or isn’t available.”
He said administration would only change the Student Health and Wellness Center fee if the SHAC committee advises them to.
-ranaebang@cc.usu.edu