STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN OPTIONS

OPTIONS

PROS   

Keep the current plan and don’t change the administration (domestic students voluntarily purchase the plan, international students & athletes required to purchase)

  

  

Offer a system-wide “hard” waiver plan



(students are automatically enrolled in the plan and have to provide verification of coverage elsewhere in order to opt out of the plan)



CONS

Flexibility for students Students who don’t want to buy health insurance, don’t have to purchase Students can stay on parents plan until 26 years old Provides another option for students when the exchange markets are open Students who must have health insurance to attend a MnSCU institution will have what’s required Gives MnSCU time to see how MNsure impacts premiums for students before making a change

 

Every student will have health insurance Due to system size, could potentially reduce cost Financial aid could be adjusted and used to pay for the plan Good for campuses to offer a student health service on site – Good Health generates Higher Academic Achievement More insurance companies would be likely to offer MnSCU a plan



   

   

Higher rates Not all insurance companies offer this type of plan administration without any assurances on participation (ex. AON will not quote) Not everyone is insured May become antiquated and no longer best options for students, i.e. MNSURE Health services will have to help the uninsured figure out how to pay for services rendered Uninsured students who can’t pay out of pocket for insurance will be unable to obtain insurance, unless they qualify for subsidies and discounts through MNsure Administrative oversight, i.e. verification process, cost increase Technology to verify insurance information submitted by students Students that are choosing to go uninsured will not be able to & object to the cost Could potentially slow down registration and adversely affect enrollment Financial aid adjustments could be limited to optional alternative loans which limits where students can get assistance to pay for the plan & therefore come with higher interest

STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN OPTIONS

   

 

Offer a system-wide “soft” waiver plan (students are automatically enrolled in the plan but can opt out without providing verification)

    

Discontinue offering student health insurance except for international students and athletes



No verification process Students have the option to purchase, can opt out of the plan Flexibility for students, campuses can inform without mandating Affordable plan at reasonable cost



Less staff time and work for each campus Other options available to students, i.e. MNsure Students can stay on parents plan until 26 years old No system involvement with regard to student’s purchasing insurance

 

 

   

rates Lot of staff time and work for the few students who really want insurance At the start could really upset some students &/or families Other plans are available through the state system, we likely can’t provide many options & may cost more As higher education institutions we need to focus on what is central to our educational mission & what we do well. Providing insurance is not central to the mission & we are not experts No verification process, students can still fall through the cracks Cost of plan not calculated into cost of attendance/mandated cost, therefore limiting financial aid options (similar concerns as “hard” waiver above, i.e. lot of staff time and work for few, etc. Students may go uninsured Harder for domestic students to obtain health insurance at a reasonable cost Insurance companies may not offer this type of program, or may not be at a reasonable price Financial aid couldn’t be adjust for the cost of health insurance May not be in the best interest of the students Campuses with health centers will experience an increase in the cost of providing health care to uninsured

STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN OPTIONS students. Cost is absorbed by local hospitals, state, college/universities campuses, local communities, etc.

General Comments from the task force: All of the potential pros and cons that I can think of have been mentioned. I think that of the options listed, either a hard waiver plan should be implemented or we discontinue offering student health insurance except for international students and athletes. I think the MN SURE plans will be very similar in coverage and cost for students to purchase. If hard waiver were implemented, I would not want to be the department responsible for making sure students have adequate coverage but the hard waiver is the only way a good plan for a reasonable amount could be offered. As higher education institutions we need to focus on what is central to our educational mission & what we do well. Providing insurance is not central to the mission & we’re not experts. However, we should have information available for students so they can purchase from a provider, i.e. MNsure, etc. Concern with students going to the exchange market or anywhere else and choosing the lowest premium with the highest deductible and not understanding what that means in terms of level of care. If we leave things as they are, we have options. Two are: be insured and pay for healthcare or be uninsured and pay an annual fee which is a minimum of $95 per adult & $47.50 per child (or 1% of each adult's income if it's higher than $95) starting in 2014 around tax time. By 2016 the annual fee minimum will be $695 (or 2.5% of each adult's income if it's higher than $695); however, this is a far lesser amount than someone would have to pay on insurance premiums. "Uninsured Minnesotans in the Twin Cities can expect to pay as little as $91 a month", though that's still $1040 annually. Some students still have an option to go uninsured, and there are ways to be exempted, but this is not an option for students who are required to have healthcare to attend college. (After I finished reading the pros and cons of our options, I am most in favor of discontinuation of "offering student health insurance except for international students and athletes")

STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN OPTIONS Health Services is important for the well-being of students. We currently deliver health services to SCSU and SCTCC students. As we discussed, our health fees have remained flat for almost a decade – that is in the face of fairly rapidly rising salaries for health care professionals, cost of medications for our pharmacy, and health care supplies costs. To remain viable, we need a model of revenue or funding that is sustainable. The health insurance decisions that MNSCU makes likely will impact how we choose to create a future model of care. If our administrative staff knows that our students will be required to have insurance, then we may explore increasing prices, and therefore potential revenue to create a sustainable model of delivering care, which would benefit students. The only way to increase revenue is to raise cost of visits, medications, lab test, etc. It’s difficult to do that when there are probably 10-30% of our current students uninsured and underinsured. Students want as little as possible out of pocket for health care and as low as possible health fees. You can’t have both. You either have to begin to pay more for care or steadily increase health fees, to create a sustainable model of delivering health care on a college campus. The other issue that is important to understand is credentialing and billing insurances. Each insurance provider you intend to bill, requires that you go through a credentialing process to get accepted as a provider that can bill that company. We currently do that for about 9 local companies. If we have some sort of movement toward students needing insurance, whether we harness MNsure or an individual provider through an RFP, or both, that helps us, because we are credentialed through all of the MNsure providers and United HealthCare which currently delivers our insurance. If we have no insurance requirements, there is a much larger pool of insurances that are not predictable year to year, particularly from out of state students. That makes the ability to predict revenue more difficult because there will be a percent of the student population that has insurances that will not work in your clinic. They may choose to go elsewhere for care. The last point we discussed is the importance of insurance in general. I know people do not want to be told that they need insurance, but we see cases regularly that help us to understand why this is important. Common unpredictable occurrences in college students are head injuries, ACL tears, appendicitis, lacerations, etc. Many of these conditions generate bills into the $1000s to $10000s – I think it is common for students to not really understand that. For those with insurance, they can recover from these circumstances. For those without, it really can change their ability to stay in school or afford school. *** NOTES ***  Credentialing example: WI residents’ claims are denied when service is provided in MN, this may cause some students to not choose a MnSCU institution  Schools collections processes are often better than private sector (holds can be place on records or graduations until cleared)  Will mental health care be addressed with exchange market or by other providers? This is a huge concern for higher ed. Currently, MnSCU’s plan provides some coverage for mental health benefits  Typical health fee is $40/$50 per semester as part of the student’s tuition. This fee pays part of the health service center’s revenue and allows them to only charge a nominal fee for visits

STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN OPTIONS 

During the week of September 23, 2013, an international student had appendicitis. They were lucky MnSCU required them to purchase health insurance because their bill would have been roughly $10,000 and this would have substantially impacted their ability to continue in school