News > November 29, 2007

By Robyn Showers | Staff writer

The Student Health Care Initiative is proposing that the university add the cost of student health insurance to the cost of tuition in order to ensure that all students have health insurance. The group plans to present its ideas to the University Senate in February 2008. According to the SHCI, adding health insurance to the cost of tuition would make these costs eligible for financial aid. The added charge would be removed once a student provides proof of insurance, which would be as simple as a copy of the student’s insurance card.

“If it’s mandated, then the price goes down,” said senior Marisa Menezes, member of the SHCI. “The university would have to pay more, but individually it would cost less, and it’s a much better plan.”

The Office of Student Financial Aid currently acts under the assumption that all students are covered under their parent or guardians’ plans. Students who are not covered under their parents’ plan are expected to appeal to the Office of Financial Aid because not having health insurance “is a very unusual and exceptional situation,” said Bill Wells, director of the office of student financial aid.

“We asked him about putting insurance on the tuition because Wake’s medical school does that, and we looked at about 20 other comparable schools, and they all seemed to do that,” said sophomore Dylan Breese, another member of the SHCI. “They automatically put it on your tuition unless you show proof that you already have it. Bill Wells said that Wake doesn’t do that because Wake works for the majority.”

According to an informal study done by the SHCI, as many as 9 percent of students are either uninsured or responsible for their own health care, independent from their parents’ plans. According to the SHCI, the university has never done a formal study of the problem. The SHCI has been working in conjunction with the Student Health Advisory Committee, which recommends that the university adopt the medical school plan for undergraduates. According to Dr. Cecil Price, director of Student Health, many students on the current plan are not getting the help that they need.

Furthermore, Price said that as many as 30 student-athletes are uninsured.

Wells said that the Office of Financial Aid has received “very few requests” for appeals of financial aid coverage of health insurance. The SHCI said this is probably due to insufficient advertisement of the appeals process. “The current financial aid brochure doesn’t explicitly explain the appeals process in the health care section,” Menezes said. “The appeals process, as represented in the brochure, appears to be only for errors or changed circumstances. Also the fact that students are free from penalties isn’t mentioned until the last page of the brochure, in the fine print.”

One uninsured student asked to remain anonymous, for fear of honor code violations. The asthmatic student came down with bronchitis last March. After visiting student health, the student was referred to a pulmonologist and was prescribed Advair, Singulair (each $200 monthly) and prednisone. “I filled the steroid, but went without the visit to the pulmonologist and the inhalers,” said the student. “The bronchitis exacerbated my asthma and weakened my lungs enough that I maintained a choking cough for four months. Even speaking took my breath when it was at its worst.”

According to the student handbook, the University requires that all students have health insurance. However, the SHCI said that they do very little to check that this regulation is followed. Furthermore, due to the lack of knowledge about the appeals process and the freedom from penalties it offers, many students do not speak up out of fear of receiving an honor code violation. “What we wouldn’t want to do is leave the student in the lurch,” said Wells. The Office of Financial Aid has agreed to let the SHCI help draft clearer language for the brochure, in the case that the University decides not to change its policies toward student health insurance.

“Insurance shouldn’t be a luxury,” said Breese. “Considering the time and money we invest in an education at Wake Forest, I think they’re doing too little to guarantee our health.”