Health insurance is complex, complicated and confusing.
It's too easy to shirk off reading the university's 56-page policy, assuming that, if a time comes when you need it, it will take care of you.
But insurance policies stipulate things - like where you can receive treatment - and should be understood before you find yourself sick and confused.
It's important that students understand their health insurance policies before they find themselves in a situation where they need to use it. For a lot of us, this is the first time we've dealt with insurance on our own.
Jessica Cantrell, a senior from Galatia studying French and Spanish who has been in a coma since a motorcycle accident Aug. 23, has brought the student insurance policy into the university's spotlight. Cantrell's parents chose to withdraw her from the university, losing the insurance with her student status. The university is helping the family find ways to pay for her skyrocketing medical bills, but so far the process has been slow.
The university is starting to review the policy to find a way to prevent situations like Cantrell's - in which a student is gravely injured, cannot attend class and faces the prospect of no help with bills from an outside source.
The Daily Egyptian editorial board sat down with Jake Baggott, the associate director of the Student Health Center, and insurance administrator Jim Hunsaker to clear up some misconceptions we had about the student health insurance policy. Eighty percent of the student body uses this insurance, and we can only imagine the confusion some students might feel about the policy.
Some things you need to know:
• Student health insurance is available to any student paying for at least one fee-paying credit hour. If you withdraw from the university, you will be refunded at least part of your tuition and fees, and you will be removed from the insurance. The only way your insurance policy will be voided is if you withdraw and receive at least a partial refund for everything else you have paid to the university.
It works this way to prevent students from enrolling in the university, withdrawing and getting a refund but taking advantage of the insurance anyway.
• Whether the university's insurance is used, any student can get cheap health care at the Student Health Center. That includes physical therapy, counseling, general checkups, emergency dental and gynecological care. Those appointments cost as little as $6 and can be charged to your bursar bill.
• The insurance policy does not cover regular dental or vision care because it would increase the cost of student insurance so much it would no longer be affordable for students.
• Student insurance kicks in 72 hours before the first day of class. Move-in weekend is covered. A "pre-existing condition" is one you have been diagnosed with, received treatment for, or a prudent person would have sought treatment for, within the six months before your first semester.
• Pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes, may also be covered by the university policy, but you must stay enrolled for at least 12 months to receive coverage.
• Sixty days of coverage are available for people who withdraw from the university after attending for at least one semester prior to leaving the university. This coverage is meant to bridge a gap between SIUC coverage and whatever kind of coverage you switch to.
• The university has a deal with Health Link. If a student uses a medical institution associated with Health Link anywhere in the country, they will receive a discounted rate because of this deal. A list of qualifying institutions is available on Health Link's Web site, or your doctor can refer you to one in the area.
• Six people work in the university insurance office to process claims for roughly 16,000 students who are covered by the insurance. The three insurance administrators who process claims are mothers themselves; they have no incentive to deny you, and gain absolutely nothing if they do.
SIUC's insurance is not-for-profit, and the office spends 84 percent of what the students pay in on claims - which amounted to around $5 million in claims last year. The other 16 percent is spent on administration of the policy - in other words, it goes to the salaries of the people who work in the insurance office.
• If anything about the policy confuses you, go to the insurance office. It's located upstairs in the Student Health Center. They will sit down and explain the policy if you need them to. And if the insurance personnel explain the policy to you, help you find a way for the policy to cover your claim or just do their routine job of making sure your care gets paid for, thank them. Everyone likes a little bit of gratitude every now and then.
