Wardenburg Health offers an insurance plan for student care. Students at CU are required to have insurance while attending. (CU Independent file/Morgan Hofmann)
CU requires all students to have health insurance, which is a policy that isn’t expected to change in the coming years.
Molly Fortuna, the associate director of Clinical and Outreach Services at Wardenburg Health Center, said that the main reason CU requires students to have health insurance is for their financial protection while attending college.
“There were multiple reasons for implementing this policy, the most important being to protect students from the rising costs of healthcare, which can impinge on their ability to remain in school,” Fortuna said. “The University embraces the concept that catastrophic financial risks while attending the University should be minimized.”
This mandatory health insurance policy has been in effect since 1986 and mandates that students are either privately insured or are insured through the Student Gold Health Insurance Plan, according to the CU Web site.
The policy of required healthcare on campus stands in stark contrast to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report that revealed one in every six Colorado residents as being uninsured.
The Gold Plan is a national and international plan, Fortuna said, underwritten by Aetna as an alternative for students who are unable to secure private insurance.
Most students seem to approve of the policy, although they said they were unclear about the reasons behind it.
David Olson, a 22-year-old senior environmental studies major, said he wasn’t sure why the school required insurance but believed there were some positive effects nonetheless.
“I think it’s a good thing to promote health, and teach students how to use insurance,” Olson said. “It also covers liability issues for the school. If they are forcing students to use medical insurance they may not be able to be held accountable for certain issues.”
Wardenburg offers two types of plans, the Student Gold Plan and Wardenburg Campus Care Plan, an option for students who have third-party insurance but want to use Wardenburg because of the convenience of it’s location on campus.
According to Wardenburg, approximately 12,300 students opted for either one of these two options last year out of the 28,000 students attending CU.
But what about the other 15,700 students with third-party insurance?
Fortuna said that these students are able to access the services offered at Wardenburg but they have to pay out of pocket, as the health center does not bill third-party insurance directly.
This can be daunting for busy college students unfamiliar with the process, such as Olson, who elected for third-party healthcare this year.
“The only intimidating thing about it would be working with my insurance, because they only take the campus options, and if you have third-party they don’t do the paperwork, the student has to file that paperwork with the insurance company,” Olson said.
Other students, such as Emily-Jean Drevno,a 20-year-old junior anthropology major, have the Campus Care Plan. This plan offers the convenience of Wardenburg without having to forfeit third-party insurance.
“I think it’s a good option for me, because I don’t have a car and so I could go to an alternative provider, but being able to just call and make an appointment on campus is more convenient,” Drevno said.
As for any changes in Wardenburg’s health care plans, Fortuna said that remains to be seen.
“Our contract with Aetna is up at the end of the 2009-2010 year, and we are in the midst of going out to bid for our next underwriter contract,” Fortuna said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Maria DiManna at Maria.dimanna@colorado.edu.
1 comment
Doesn’t college cost enough already without having to pay double for health insurance? If the 15,700 CU students who already have private health insurance were able to utilize that insurance at the campus health center, it would be a win-win, as the health center would collect incremental revenue from insurance companies, as opposed to from the pockets of the student and their parents. A closed system such as that which CU currently employs is simply wrong. It is a potential violation of both the letter and spirit of the law, as the school is essentially saying, “we only accept one form of insurance and it happens to be our own.” Translation: unfair trade practice. Suggestion: open up the campus health center so that it accepts all forms of insurance.