UA student health plan rates to fall

FAYETTEVILLE -- Student health insurance rates will go down at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for a coverage plan that until now has been chosen by a small percentage of undergraduate students.

But with more employers offering high-deductible plans, two higher-education insurance experts said it makes sense for families to explore student health-insurance options.

UA students opting for the new plan will pay $1,720 annually -- down from $1,900 -- for coverage with a $300 deductible. The agent for the health care coverage is Academic HealthPlans, a Dallas-area company.

"A smart family would take a look at their plan and compare it to this plan," said Mary Alice Serafini, director of UA's Pat Walker Health Center.

The company will no longer offer a lower-cost plan that had a $2,000 deductible.

About 2,000 students enrolled in student health insurance offered through UA in fall 2014, including 775 graduate assistants who receive a discount on the price. By contrast, UA has a student enrollment of more than 26,000 students, which includes nearly 22,000 undergraduate students.

UA students pay a $7.25 health fee per semester credit hour that's separate from the UA-offered health plan. The fee covers some services at the Pat Walker Health Center, but medical office visits typically are billed to a student's insurance carrier.

Colleges and universities differ in plans offered to students and insurance requirements. At UA, international students must have health insurance, but it's not a general requirement for all enrollees. Arkansas State University-Jonesboro also requires health insurance for international students but not as a general requirement for enrollees.

Serafini said many students rely on coverage through a parent's health care plan, with federal health care changes that took effect in 2010 allowing young adults up to age 26 to remain on a parent's plan.

However, deductibles for employer-sponsored health care have been increasing. Workers typically must pay the deductible before most services begin to be covered by their insurance.

As noted in a May report by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation, "premium cost pressures over the past decade have led companies to share increasing amounts of their health costs with workers, particularly in the form of higher deductibles."

A survey of human resource and benefit managers by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust last year found the estimated average deductible for health maintenance organization family plans to be $2,328 in 2014, with a standard error of $320. A preferred provider organization family plan had an estimated average deductible of $1,947, with a standard error of $136. The survey estimates showed increased deductibles compared to previous years.

The majority of workers with family coverage have an aggregate deductible, with out-of-pocket expenses for each family member counting toward the deductible amount, according to a report from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Richard Simpson, until recently chairman for the American College Health Association's Student Health Insurance/Benefits Plans Coalition, said student health insurance plans are "more relevant than ever" given other benefit trends.

"The low member cost-sharing really sets them apart," said Simpson, who manages a student health insurance program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Steve Beckley, a partner in firm Hodgkins Beckley Consulting, said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does not require employers to make contributions for dependent coverage, adding that workers are "lucky" if employers are continuing to make such contributions.

Families should consider both cost and access to care while deciding on health care options. Insurance plans sometimes have a limited network of health care providers.

"The provider network is a key thing," Beckley said.

UA now enrolls about 4,600 students from Texas. One Dallas-area UA parent, Carla Koster, said her son Richard, a recent graduate, had no problem accessing care in Arkansas while on his parents' plan.

"We were very satisfied. We had no issues," Koster said, describing the family's plan coverage as "pretty much nationwide."

Beckley said there are political efforts to address concerns about "the family dependent-coverage glitch." The term "underinsurance" is sometimes used to describe issues related to high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.

But Beckley said he doubted whether action would be taken soon.

"I think student plans, in the short term, the next 3 to 5 years, probably have a very important role to play," said Beckley.

Students can also purchase coverage through Arkansas' health insurance exchange.

Scout Johnson, a history doctoral student, told the Democrat-Gazette in January she had tried a plan through UA, then switched to coverage purchased through the marketplace. But she said the marketplace plan then increased its premium and dropped vision coverage.

Johnson, speaker for the Associated Student Government Graduate Student Congress, wrote in an email that the new contract "is a better deal for students, particularly for our constituency of Graduate Students."

Serafini said rates for dependents and spouses will now be the same as the student's rate, another change from last year's plan.

The university solicited competitive bids for plan vendors. Academic HealthPlans had been the previous provider of coverage but still was named in a March 9 "Intent to Award" letter over another company that submitted a qualified bid. A third company had submitted a bid but was disqualified because of a procedural error, UA spokesman Mark Rushing said at the time.

A contract was signed by a university representative April 22.

Metro on 06/06/2015

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