FAYETTEVILLE -- A push to improve health care options for students at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville through competitive bidding resulted in the selection of a company that has already been providing UA's student health insurance.
UA issued an "Intent to Award" letter dated March 9 to Academic Health Plans, a Dallas-area company currently administering insurance purchased by about 2,000 UA students. About half of that number are international students. Another 800 graduate students and approximately 200 undergraduates also purchase the plan. UA has 26,237 students overall.
Mary Alice Serafini, director of UA's Pat Walker Health Center, said a contract with the company was still under negotiation and declined to comment further, referring questions to Karen Walls, UA's procurement coordinator.
Three companies submitted bids, but one was disqualified for a procedural error, according to UA spokesman Mark Rushing. The disqualified bid was from AIG National Union Fire Insurance, according to bid documents. The other bid given "full consideration" was from a company called Consolidated Health Plans.
Pam Delaney, a student insurance representative employed by Academic Health Plans, said the company is in its fifth year of providing student health insurance plans for UA. Delaney, who is based at UA, said a contract with the university will likely be signed in a month or so.
One graduate student leader, Scout Johnson, told the Democrat-Gazette in an email that she had been removed from a bid review committee by UA's procurement office after speaking with a reporter in January about the health care needs of graduate students.
Johnson told the Democrat-Gazette she had apparently violated a confidentiality agreement, but stated she had neither received nor signed any such agreement to participate on the committee.
In January, Johnson told the Democrat-Gazette that graduate students tend to be older, with many having spouses and children. Johnson, vice speaker for the Associated Student Government Graduate Student Congress, in January said that a goal was to have dental and vision coverage provided in future plans, unlike the current plan.
Before being removed from the committee, "Serafini argued strenuously on my behalf, to no avail," Johnson wrote.
Young adults, until they turn 26, can be covered under a parent's insurance plan as part of federal health care overhaul that took effect with plans beginning Sept. 23, 2010. Serafini has told the Democrat-Gazette that less than 15 percent of UA students are uninsured.
Health care fees charged to UA students -- $7.25 per credit hour -- only pay for some on-campus health center services. Students without insurance remain financially responsible for many types of care offered at the on-campus health center.
Alex Marino, speaker for UA's Associated Student Government Graduate Student Congress, wrote in an email that another graduate student remained on the committee after Johnson's departure, but he is in the dark about the committee's choice.
"Scout's departure and my ignorance are solely due to the University Procurement Office. The Pat Walker Health Center has been nothing but supportive of graduate students, and I believe they have done their best to not only get a good deal on insurance, but also to include graduate student perspectives on the process," Marino wrote.
Metro on 03/19/2015