Student health insurance in trouble
The student health insurance plan may no longer be an option for students due to increased premiums and new insurance demands.
Although the university offers a good health plan for students, Associated Students of Utah State University Graduate Studies Vice President Stephanie Kukic said, the “outrageous” premiums students have to pay have caused a drastic decline in students willing to participate in the program.
A student advisory ad hoc meeting made the decision on Tuesday not to renew the current insurance plan, Kukic said, and the committee is now beginning the drafting process to bid for a new insurance company.
The committee will advise the school board to not renew the current plan, Kukic said, and will hold another ad hoc meeting next Tuesday to discuss the drafting of the bids. However, this will undoubtedly increase premiums, Kukic said, and the school may remove the program altogether.
“The worst case scenario is the committee will eliminate the student plan, bid for one year to aid students, then stop altogether,” Kukic said.
The university faces the decision to support a student health insurance program or to eliminate it altogether, Kukic said.
The current problem is the insurance company is mandating all international students to buy insurance from the university, Kukic said, whereas before, international students merely had to have insurance coverage comparable to that offered by the school.
Since the committee decided not to renew the current plan, Kukic said, all students that are covered by student health insurance will be notified.
The student health insurance program operates by pooling risk with health expenses, Student Health Center Director Jim Davis said, and many students do not see the need for insurance at this time in their lives.
“Nobody likes insurance,” Davis said. “But it’s magic, either you have it or you don’t, and when you need it, it is essential to stay in school.”
Kukic said, “You shouldn’t go without insurance, but the premiums are outrageous.”
The premiums have increased over the years because fewer students are participating in the program, Davis said, and that causes premiums to rise. The insurance program has 496 students currently enrolled, Davis said, and the number continues to drop.
Many students feel they do not need the complete coverage the university’s insurance program provides, Davis said, such as maternity expenses. Therefore, the majority of the students who use the program are those with a higher risk, Davis said, such as those who could not find coverage elsewhere or those who are planning on using the maternity coverage.
However, the university is mandated to follow Title IX, which states that men and women are treated the same and fall under the same insurance premium, Davis said. Because the program covers maternity expenses, the premiums are higher, Davis said, and this causes students to look elsewhere for insurance coverage.
The Student Health Center does advise students to look in the market for the best coverage, Davis said, because the center wants to give good advice that “is reliable and helpful and worthy of the student’s trust.”
The best solution, Kukic said, is to educate and help students find the best insurance coverage at the most reasonable price in the market.
Kukic said, “I am an uninsured grad student and I’m choosing to go out to the market to look for insurance coverage.”
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu