UNC jumps on bandwagon by requiring students have health insurance

The UNC system is following a national trend with a policy requiring students to have health insurance by fall 2010.

The University of Virginia, Florida State University, the University of Maryland and the University of California system all have implemented insurance requirements.

But the economy and other factors are preventing some universities from changing their policies.

Karen Klever, a student insurance administrator at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, said she has advocated for requiring all students to purchase some form of health insurance.

“I would hope at some point that we would be able to require all students to have health insurance,” Klever said.

“I’ve been talking about it for 10 years. Michigan’s economy is really bad right now.”

As parents and students lose jobs, it becomes more difficult to argue for the added cost of student health insurance, she said.

The UNC system will require students on 16 campuses to have health insurance by next fall. Officials also plan to create a systemwide insurance plan that students can purchase as an alternative to parent- or employer-provided coverage.

UNC system estimates show that about 16 percent of its students are uninsured.

A campus survey conducted during the 2005-06 school year indicated that about 6 percent of University of Michigan undergraduate students had no insurance, but Klever said she thinks that number has increased along with Michigan’s unemployment rate.

Klever said only about 1,600 students purchase the campus health plan offered at the University of Michigan’s three campuses, which have about 55,000 students total.

Klever said requiring health insurance could encourage more students to buy that plan and drive down premiums, as well as help students at the Flint and Dearborn campuses — which don’t have student health centers — pay for care.

The University of Florida also has considered a mandate, but Kathy Lindsey, insurance coordinator at the university’s Student Health Care Center, said the school will probably wait for state action to introduce a requirement.

“There has been a lot of talk and a lot of scuttlebutt about mandatory insurance,” Lindsey said. “If they implement something, they want it to be statewide.”

University of California schools require insurance, but the California State University system does not.

Howard Wang,  associate vice president for student affairs at California State University-Fullerton, said it has been difficult to get the system’s 23 campuses to agree on a requirement.

The University of Maryland  began requiring insurance this year for incoming students.

UnitedHealthcare offers an optional, university-sponsored student plan with annual premiums at about $1,200, according to the University of Maryland Health Center’s Web site.


Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.