Premiums likely to rise for Auburn student insurance plan

Auburn students signing up for healthcare this year have the option to choose Auburn's injury and sickness plan supported by UnitedHealthcare.
The plan has undergone major revisions in the past two years and will be updated in the coming years. In 2012, the plan was catastrophic and did not recognize preexisting conditions. Because of the Affordable Care Act, graduate, international and undergraduate students now have the opportunity to search for the best plan that fits their needs.
"You're required to have the insurance if you're an international student or a graduate student with an assistantship," said Sarah Razavi, UnitedHealthcare liaison. "You're automatically enrolled, but you can opt out if you have insurance that is equal to or better than what we offer."
According to Razavi, the UnitedHealthcare plan is optimal for unmarried students without children who are working as graduate teaching assistants.
"There are a lot of options for plans where the deductible is like, $6,000 or higher," said Razavi. "We don't want you to go and buy a plan like that. And honestly, you are doing yourself a disservice because the plan we offer is so much better if you have an assistantship. If you have a wife and three children, ours is not as good. You could probably find a much cheaper plan."
The deductible for UnitedHealthcare's plan is $200 for in-network, or preferred providers, and $500 for out-of-network providers. Preferred providers include East Alabama Medical Center and United HealthCare Choice Plus, according to the plan. Lists of preferred providers can be found on United HealthCare's website.
An individual plan is $884 for six months with a $250 subsidy, which means students will pay a total of $634 for their insurance for six months. The plan does not include vision or dental.
The bill may be paid online from the student's eBill and can be covered with surplus financial aid or scholarship money.
"There are a few little quirks, like if you are injured or ill in a way that's not an emergency, the primary care place is the Auburn University Medical Clinic," Razavi said. "So, if they're open then you have to go there. If they happen to be closed, there are other places."
If a student only ever visited the Auburn University Medical Clinic for doctor's appointments, the $200 in-network deductible would not apply and they would never have to pay a deductible, Razavi explained. However, if a student is 50 miles away or more, or if it's an emergency, they are not required to go to the Auburn University Medical Clinic.
The Auburn student insurance plan does not have an open-enrollment plan. As soon as a student turns 26, they may opt in for the insurance rather than wait for a specified period and risk being uninsured after coming off their parents' plan. Students may also terminate their plan at any time.
Dr. George Flowers, dean of Auburn's graduate school, was instrumental in developing the student healthcare plan.
"Certainly those of us that are involved in the student insurance are interested in feedback from the students both on the cost and the benefits that they receive on the plan," Flowers said.
He explained that one downside to the plan was the spike in the price of healthcare premiums, the amount paid, often on a monthly basis, for health insurance.
"The cost keeps increasing," Flowers said. "The premiums have gone up substantially since we started the program. We've tried to keep the coverage as consistent as possible, and with the escalation in the healthcare cost, it's gone up significantly. It's gone up from approximately $1,200 a year total cost to now about $1,800 a year."
According to Flowers, part of the premium cost increase last year was tied to concerns across the board of the health insurance industry over what would happen when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was finally implemented.
Frank Sturm, president of the graduate student council and Ph. D student in mathematics, said it would be interesting to see which plans students would choose with the options provided by the new healthcare reform.
"Students have more competitive options with ObamaCare," Sturm said. "The premiums do continue to increase. It's going to be interesting to see if students decide to remain on the University's healthcare plan."
The graduate student council will be meeting to discuss contract options in the coming months to implement changes to the student healthcare plan, Sturm said.
"There are some other issues that are kind of hard to address, like making sure the UnitedHealthcare Network is large enough," Flowers said. "There are some doctors here that are not in the network and we have been working with UnitedHealthcare to try and expand their network and try to bring some of these doctors in."
Flowers and Sturm said they wanted students to be aware that the healthcare plan is open to critique with the aim of providing more effective coverage to a greater number of students.
Modifications to the plan have already been implemented, such as a $250,000 increase in maximum coverage per injury or sickness. Clauses in the plan have been removed, including the condition that beneficiaries may only see one doctor per day.
"We're doing our best, but feedback from the students helps us identify problems with the system that hopefully we can correct at some point," Flowers said.