After both Graduate Student Senate and Student Senate passed supportive legislation, Ohio University selected UnitedHealthcare on April 3 to be its student health insurance provider.
Here’s how the changes will affect students starting in the fall:
There will be a price increase
UnitedHealthcare bid the cheapest health insurance plan of four bids, however, it comes with a higher cost for students, who will see a 10.5 percent increase on their student accounts this upcoming Fall Semester.
Student Health Insurance Administrator Anna Casteel said the health provider's low bid shows that it is competitive, according to a previous Post report.
“This is a $6 million deal, so a lot of people are interested in that,” Casteel said.
Casteel said 1,132 undergraduate and 1,364 graduate Athens campus students purchased the health care plan as of this semester.
Students can opt out of paying for the plan by proving to the university that they have active health insurance coverage through an online waiver.
International students can opt out of the plan
Casteel said starting this fall, international students will be able to waive the plan if they have qualifying insurance.
Of the four bids, only UnitedHealthcare enabled OU to select a third party to review the waiver. Casteel said the university is working to determine the criteria for waiving the policy.
“We are doing our best to make waiver requirements equal for both domestic and international students,” Casteel said in an email.
Several international students expressed concerns about purchasing the university plan, citing the low health insurance subsidies it provides graduate employees.
“Could you imagine that for the budget of an international student who is relying on themselves and on the stipend?” Fatma Jabbari, a graduate student studying political science, said in a previous Post report. “Basically, I am paying the university back what they are paying me on the stipend.”
OU President Duane Nellis announced earlier this month that the university would increase the health insurance subsidy for graduate employees from 4 percent to 13.2 percent, according to a previous Post report. The minimum stipend will also see a $1 per hour increase.
Graduate employees without the plan will see a general fee decrease
At the university’s budget forum March 20, administrators discussed a general fee buydown, which would decrease the cost of the general fee. Although some students have full-tuition waivers, they still have to pay the fee, according to a previous Post report.
John Day, associate provost for academic budget and planning, said departments within OU are dependent on the fee. Day said investing in the buydown would fully benefit students because of the lack of taxation.
Nellis said the university would only subsidize the insurance for graduate employees on its plan. To compensate for that, the $174 that would have gone to the subsidy will now go toward the buydown.
Students join administration to evaluate the plan
Graduate student representatives will join the Division of Student Affairs in evaluating the health care plan in the fall.
“By adding graduate students to this process, we will ensure that our health insurance plan design meets the objectives of students who utilize the plan,” Nellis wrote in a news release.
GSS President Maria Modayil said OU has one of the best student plans in Ohio because it offers a platinum health insurance plan. In a platinum plan, the monthly premium is at its highest, but the provider will pay 90 percent of clients' insurance costs.
Modayil said the platinum plan was most likely selected because of the lack of options for students to seek medical care locally.
The group will meet to discuss the design of the health insurance plan, including what types of procedures would be covered.
“We asked (university administration) to just approve the health insurance provider for just one year so we can use this year to see if there are design changes, … which might make it cheaper for everyone,” Modayil said. “There are many things on there that we have coverage for, but we personally may not need, but someone else might need, and we need to waive what is best for everyone.”
