|
Plan looks to require student health insurance |
|
|
|
Thursday, 06 March 2008 |
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series on health insurance.
by JEFF KOEHLER
Intern News Reporter
The administration at Appalachian State University is exploring a new health insurance plan, which will change its voluntary insurance program for students into a “hard waiver” system.
The hard waiver system would require all students to either purchase health insurance through the school, or have the school approve their private health insurance.
Director of Student Health Services at Appalachian Dr. Pat A. Geiger said the concept behind the
proposed new system is “to increase the number of students with health
insurance and make sure they get it at a reasonable price.”
Geiger said the voluntary insurance plan the school offers is seeing problems, as students who use the
voluntary system are experiencing an increase in premium costs while the benefits the plan offers have
not improved.
She said the new plan was still in the exploratory stage.
“I think we have an intention that we will be participating in a plan in the start of 2009,” Geiger said.
Vice Chancellor for Student Development Cindy Wallace said the university is hoping to establish a
reasonably-priced healthcare policy.
She said joining an already existing consortium of other schools in order to provide health insurance to
all students would “drive the cost down for better coverage.”
According to Student Health Services documents, Appalachian State is one of the few schools within
the University of North Carolina system that have not yet joined this consortium.
The insurance company Pearce & Pearce won the bid to provide health insurance for this group of
schools, Geiger said.
The consortium offers several tiers of health insurance coverage to its members, ranging from Tier I,
which offers $10,000 of coverage, to Tier V, offering $250,000 of insurance.
Geiger said Appalachian’s administration would probably pursue Tier III or Tier IV coverage, which
provide $50,000 and $100,000 of coverage respectively.
The yearly listed price for Tier III is $616, and Tier IV is listed at $708.
Wallace said students who already have insurance would have the option to opt out under the
hard-waiver system, as long as the school approved their coverage.
She said some forms of financial aid could cover the cost of the school-provided insurance.
Geiger said the new plan has both advantages and disadvantages. She said the new plan would cover
students who are uninsured, and would also offer a good alternative to the current voluntary system,
the costs of which are rising.
On the other side of the issue, she said, the plan “represents a philosophical shift” from the idea that
students have the right not to carry insurance.
Student Government Association President Forrest S. Gilliam said he could see the benefits of having
people insured, but said he also felt people should have the freedom to choose their health coverage.
He said the concept was not met with any obvious anger when it was
first explained to the SGA Senate, but there were some who disagreed
with the idea, seeing it as “an unnecessary intrusion.”
“There were definitely some differing opinions,” he said.
 |
News 
.jpg)
Show/Hide comments
