Trustees discuss student health insurance, tuition
About one in every four Utah State University students has no health insurance, Dr. Jim Davis, director of the Student Health and Wellness Center at the Board of Trustees meeting, said Friday. Davis said the national trend is that 30 percent of students are uninsured.
Students don’t think they need health insurance, or they have a less disposable income and cannot afford to be insured, Davis said.
USU’s health insurance rates are going to continue to rise and there is a group of students that cannot afford to pay for it, he said.
Financially declining insurance plans, mirroring national and state trends, and increasingly uninsured students are a cause for concern, Davis said.
“Part of it is they think themselves healthy,” Davis said. “They’re young and healthy and probably right most of the time, but even young healthy people have accidents and injury and illness.”
Usually, people who are likely to use the plan will purchase it, Davis said.
Student health care is different because it is bound by federal regulation, and within it every male has to receive pregnancy coverage, although it is impossible for them to become impregnated.
“The more bells and whistles you put in a plan, the more expensive it is,” Davis said.
“What we have is a plan that is too expensive,” President Kermit L. Hall said.
People have to make drastic decisions and because of that, Utah Valley State College and Weber State University dropped their student health insurance, whereas USU and the University of Utah are the only remaining schools with plans in the state.
Nationally mandatory coverage has been offered to fix this problem. In Colorado, Idaho, and California, health insurance of state schools is mandatory, Davis said.
“As we as an institution look at educating our students, making them productive members of society, sometimes we also put them into decisions of welfare necessity,” Davis said. Having a graceful withdrawal is what Davis said may be the best solution.
“This is a simple question with a difficult answer,” Hall said. This problem will be re-addressed in May, and a committee has been formed to resolve a solution.
Tuition increases were also discussed at the meeting.
“It is clear that the future for Utah State is some tuition increases,” Glenn McEvoy, the Chairman of Tuition Task Force, said.
Tuition at USU will be increasing 7 percent for returning students and 9 percent for new students for 2004-05, McEvoy said.
“We’re a real bargain,” McEvoy said.
USU’s increases this year are lower than around the state. Though USU plans to continue tuition increases, McEvoy said, USU will still plan to be lagging behind in tuition costs.
“Just in talking to my peers, we can all see we’re getting a bargain. When we look at the hard numbers we can perceive we’re getting a good deal,” Stephanie Kukic, a Tuition Task Force committee member and student, said.
Rebecca Warnick, another committee member, said it’s a big concern knowing how much money that is, and how many students will be able to finance their education.
-amysueh@cc.usu.edu