Health care hikes hit UNM, not students

news@dailylobo.com

Although the Board of Regents approved a 22 percent increase in UNM student health insurance premiums, the University will bear most of the additional cost.

Director of Student Health and Counseling Beverly Kloeppel said although about 2,200 students purchase health insurance from UNM, about 1,600 policyholders are graduate assistants or teacher’s assistants and that the University covers the cost of the policy for GA and TA student employees. She said that providing GAs and TAs with student health insurance is included in student employee benefits.

“Really, the people who will be experiencing the increase in cost is the University and those individuals who are buying policies for themselves,” she said. “The University will pick up that increase in cost, because GAs and TAs don’t pay for their own health insurance.”

At a June 7 meeting, the Board of Regents approved a 22 percent increase in UNM student health insurance premium costs and said the increase would ensure UNM student health insurance policies meet coverage standards outlined in the Affordable Care Act. The act, which passed in March, aims to provide more affordable health insurance to U.S. citizens.

UNM student health insurance premiums increased about $300, to about $1,700 annually, because ACA regulations changed the benefits structure and the increased benefits meant increased costs. One of the main changes is that the new insurance policy includes a $100,000 annual limit per injury or illness while the old policy only covered a $50,000 lifetime limit per injury or illness, Kloeppel said.

Kloeppel said other changes include coverage for preventative services, such as birth control. She said pharmaceutical benefits will also be included in the $100,000 annual limit and that the old policy only covered up to $2,000 in pharmaceutical costs per year.

But Kloeppel said health insurance coverage limits will eventually be removed and insurance premiums will further increase to cover the additional costs in coverage.

“This is just what needs to be implemented for the 2012-2013 policy year, but these will change,” she said. “That limit will go up next year to cover up to $500,000 and then after that the limit will be undone.”

Kloeppel said student health insurance policies were given a timeline to help colleges, universities and students prepare for the increase in insurance costs. Insurance coverage caps will be removed completely by 2014.

“The timeline will allow universities to be able to move their plans into compliance a little bit slower so that the cost is not so prohibitive,” she said.

Kloeppel said the number of students who purchase UNM health insurance will probably change because the ACA allows students to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until they are 26 years old. “It will very much depend upon whether they are willing to deal with the increase and whether they feel that the increase in benefits is worth the increased cost and whether or not they can afford it,” she said.