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By Teri H.P. Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
With the Student Health Insurance Plan on automatic billing,
some students are paying two separate bills for medical insurance
““ and they may not even know it.
Beginning fall 2001, the University of California mandated that
all students be enrolled in the Student Health Insurance Plans,
which provide basic medical coverage, excluding dental and
vision.
But for students already covered under a parent’s plan or
by a private insurer, if they do not inform the university of their
outside coverage, they will be doubly covered and charged an extra
$535 per year.
SHIP fees are automatically calculated as part of a
student’s registration fees unless students fill out a
waiver.
Students can waive SHIP online by answering a few questions on
the Student Health Center Web site, showing that they are insured
by a qualified insurance company.
The waiver process must be completed before the 20th of the
first month of each quarter, unless the student had waived the fee
for the entire year during fall quarter, said Shelly Pearson,
director of ancillary services at the Arthur Ashe Center.
Some students, however, have complained that the deadline is too
short and that there was not enough notice about the added
registration fees.
Vladimir Kogan, a second-year math and neuroscience student, was
surprised when he found out he may have been paying $500 more for
coverage he does not need since he is insured through his
parents.
“I’m surprised, but I’m not shocked,”
Kogan said about the billing process. “This is good-old
fashion bureaucracy.”
For Kogan and similar students, their will be no extension to
the deadline, said Jeff Brigman, database manager in the student
accounting office.
“Deadlines are probably fixed for processing
purposes,” Brigman said. “When there are exceptions and
extensions, processing becomes more difficult.”
Such extensions of the deadline may make the billing process
more convoluted, Pearson said.
However, there will be a slight extension in the wavering
process during the summer. The Web site will operate 24 hours a day
from July to Sept. 20 to allow students more time to cancel the
SHIP plan.
The Ashe Center has tried a number of ways to inform students of
the new SHIP plan, Pearson said, acknowledging that some students
are probably still double-covered, though she did not know the
exact number.
But the overall benefit of the plan for all students now insured
seems to compensate for this issue, Pearson said.
“As insurance plans go, at the moment SHIP is a Rolls
Royce plan for a Chevrolet price,” Pearson said.
When broken down, the plan will cost roughly $50 per month for
medical services ““ coverage that may cost up to $400 through
private insurers, Pearson said.
About 22,000 of 34,000 UCLA students are enrolled in SHIP,
Pearson said. This number includes those who may not have been
insured otherwise.
Students’ needs for medical services have increased within
the past few years, warranting the UC Regents to adopt a mandatory
plan, Pearson said.
Also, financial aid increased by about $400 to accommodate the
SHIP program last year, Pearson said. Some students are concerned
their aid refunds would decrease due to the insurance fees.
International students, meanwhile, have another concern.
Students covered by an international plan and those covered by
traveling insurance cannot waive the SHIP program.
According to Jeanne Black, spokeswoman for the UCLA Student
Health Advisory Committee, international plans are simply not
accepted in the United States.
“Health insurance is now a condition of enrollment,”
Black said. “The only voluntary part of it is the waiver, not
the health plan.”