In the wake of budget cuts and student fee increases,
undergraduate students may be surprised to hear about a decrease in
prices for the Undergraduate Student Health Insurance Plan.
Graduates, however, will experience an increase in their
Graduate Student Health Insurance Plan.
The decrease for undergraduates comes after annual negotiations
between the Student Health Insurance Committee and insurance
companies.
The committee, which is comprised of undergraduates and
graduates in the Student Health Advisory Committee and health care
professionals, determined that the price undergraduate students
paid for SHIP far exceeded the services students used for the
2001-2002 academic school year.
GSHIP prices increased because graduate students used their
health insurance plans above estimates.
“Undergraduates did not use the plan to the level
expected,” said Michele Pearson, director of ancillary
services.
USHIP Basic will now cost $174 per quarter, down from the
current cost of $188. In addition, USHIP Basic will cover vision
care, unlike the current plan, which requires students to pay an
additional $62 for eye and dental care under the USHIP Plus
program.
The new USHIP Plus can now be purchased for an additional $34
and adds dental care to the basic plan.
USHIP Plus and GSHIP now offer the same services, but GSHIP
costs more, with rates of $284 for quarter students and $425 for
those on semester.
Undergraduate students expressed happiness at the news of lower
health insurance costs.
Melina Duenas is a third-year physical science and Spanish
student who had USHIP her first year but decided to opt out of the
plan because it was too expensive. Duenas said she plans on
purchasing USHIP next year.
Health care insurance became mandatory for all University of
California undergraduate students starting fall quarter of the
2001-2002 academic school year. Graduates and international
students in the UC system were already required to have health care
insurance.
“We have been advocating for quite a number of years that
every student should be insured,” said Albert Setton, deputy
assistant vice chancellor for student health and development.
Like many others in the health care industry, Pearson and Setton
have seen numerous incidents in which uninsured patients faced
extraordinary medical bills following health complications.
Before the systemwide mandatory health insurance coverage, 25
percent of UCLA students and 40 percent of all UC students did not
have health insurance.
UC Berkeley established health insurance as a requirement for
enrollment in 1990 and UC Santa Cruz did so in 1998.
The students who were economically disadvantaged were the ones
who didn’t have insurance, Setton said.
Need-based financial aid was increased to offset the cost of
health insurance for undergraduate students.
Only 2,500 undergraduate students were insured under USHIP
before health insurance coverage became required.
Pearson said once insurance became mandatory, it was unknown how
many students would keep USHIP and how many would waive it.
The SHIP plan is included in all registration fees, but can be
waived if a student can provide proof of sufficient health
insurance.
SHIC estimated enrollment would increase two or three times the
original number.
Insurance enrollment increased by seven times the original
number for undergraduates, but actual usage of USHIP fell below
estimates. This was because many services utilized by USHIP members
were covered by the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center,
the primary care provider of SHIP patients. Services provided by
the Ashe Center are paid for with registration fees.
SHIP pays for most services not covered by the Ashe Center,
which includes outpatient services such as diagnostic tests.
Approximately 33 percent of undergraduate students used USHIP for
pharmaceutical purposes and nearly 35 percent used it for
in-patient hospitalization, Setton said.
Overall, students with SHIP health insurance are happy with
their coverage.
“I thought it was a blessing that it was provided for me
automatically,” said acting and theater graduate student
Bianca Swan, who is insured under GSHIP.
“I wouldn’t go to the doctor if I had to go out of
my way,” said Swan, who plans on using GSHIP next year
despite the increase.