There has been another step forward in the process to approve a plan that would require all un-insured University students to purchase a student health insurance plan. The step forward comes with the announcement that a new insurance company has been chosen.
The University Health Advisory Board selected the Chickering Group as the insurance provider to replace the current provider, Collegiate Risk Management, Inc. Chickering was the missing piece of a proposal for mandatory student health insurance.
If approved, a mandatory insurance plan would be prepared for the academic year 2006-2007.
The proposal will be discussed in the President’s cabinet in a meeting scheduled at the end of August, according to Executive Vice President Linda Dobb.
If the proposal is approved, students who cannot prove that they are insured through their jobs or their family’s health insurance would be required to buy the University-sponsored plan before enrolling in classes.
Director of Student Health Services Glenn Egelman spent most of his evenings during the spring semester, lobbying support for the plan that would require all University students to have student health insurance.
He’s already gotten resolutions from Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate Student Senate to support his plan.
Next stop? There will be meetings with the Office of Student Affairs, before final discussions in the President’s cabinet.
Egelman and the Health Advisory Board will likely see success when the President’s Cabinet will discuss the issue in late August. Administrators have openly supported the plan to require health insurance for all students by the academic year of 2006-2007.
Egelman has speculated the cost at $1,200 a year for students who purchase the insurance. But the cost would go down each year, if all students were required to purchase it. Egelman said that a similar plan at the University of Toledo resulted in a drop in insurance cost. Before UT required all students to purchase insurance, Egelman estimated that their cost was about $1,350 for insurance each year. After the change to required insurance, UT students were rewarded with a drop in cost. With all un-insured students required to purchase the university insurance plan, the cost is now $893 for UT student insurance each year.
Neither himself nor university administration will benefit directly from required student health insurance, Egelman told senators of USG at their meeting on March 14. Senators of USG seemed skeptical of plan to require student insurance at first, but after their third meeting with Egelman on March 14, they were convinced. USG joined GSS to pass a resolution to support the plan.
But Egelman hasn’t easily won the support of the graduate student population nor the undergraduate senators. Many senators were concerned that the financial burden of requiring insurance might make a college education unaffordable for some.
Before voting to support the new plan, USG Sen. Maria Khoury insisted that there be a need-based waiver clause added to USG’s resolution. A need-based waiver would allow students who prove that they cannot afford the insurance to be excused from purchasing the mandatory plan. Khoury said she hopes that the clause will suggest that required insurance be included in financial aid packages. Many senators of USG said they will withdraw their support for required student health insurance if administrators reject a need-based waiver.
Egelman said that the financial aid is in the works, but can only be finalized once required insurance is approved.
