Policy leaves family uninsured

Changes in the University of Cincinnati's student health insurance coverage have placed some students and their families "between a rock and a hard place," according to 29-year-old graduate student Joseph Schroer.

When Schroer decided to pursue a doctoral degree in educational studies, his family expected to have health insurance through his student dependent coverage. However, in May 2007, the Student Health Insurance Committee voted to eliminate dependent coverage. The decision meant students could no longer purchase insurance for their spouses and children through University Health Services, which would leave people like Schroer's 1-year-old daughter, Isabel, and his wife, Andrea, without coverage.

The students in the committee voted to get rid of dependent coverage because it would reduce costs for the majority of students who purchase policies, said John Andrews, director of University Health Services.

Andrews also said the changes made to the student insurance policy decreased the quarterly price from $417 last year to $412 this year, and getting rid of dependent coverage shaved $36 off the quarterly price.

For Schroer, finding insurance for his family elsewhere meant working 20 hours a week in addition to teaching a class as a graduate assistant and taking classes as a full-time student. He works at a hospital because he said it is one of the only places he can find that will provide dependent

coverage for part-time workers. Schroer said the work he does there - serving meals to patients - has nothing to do with what he is studying and hinders his career advancement more than it helps.

Though it may reduce overall costs for the university's student health insurance, Schroer said dropping dependent coverage can harm the university in other ways.

"It absolutely affects the quality and amount of research that can go on," Schroer said.

He said he believes graduate students like him could be more involved in university programs if they didn't have to work on the side to get health insurance for their families.

The savings from cutting the dependent coverage allowed University Health Services to make other adjustments to the policy, according to Andrews. For example, more pre-existing conditions - illnesses or injuries that were treated or diagnosed before the insurance coverage began - are now covered.

Andrews said he urged students to remember there are other places to get health insurance beyond what the university provides. He suggested that students visit the Web site ehealthinsurance.com to learn more about how to purchase health insurance that might better suit their needs.

University Health Insurance pays out $4 million to $5 million in claims each year, Andrews said, and works hard to balance concerns about cost, quality and access as they try to meet different students' health care needs.

The decision to cut the insurance coverage was ultimately left to a group of students who voted as part of the Student Health Insurance Committee, according to Andrews.

"We really try to do what students want," Andrews said.