Insurance woes continue for grad students

When graduate student Nicholas Remmes wanted to provide health insurance for his wife and newborn daughter this year, he added them as dependents to his insurance plan. \nWhile IU subsidized his portion of the coverage because he is a student academic appointee in the physics department, Remmes paid for the cost of his spouse and child entirely on his own, totaling $4,228. (Student academic appointees include graduate students who are associate instructors and research assistants.)\nBut a proposed 58 percent increase in the cost of insurance has Remmes, and other graduate students with dependents, worried. \n"We're dealing with really substantial increases," he said. "It really kills a graduate student budget -- these numbers are extraordinary." \nUnder the plan, the cost of insuring a spouse would increase from $2,404 to $3,798.32, and the cost of insurance for a child plan would jump from $1,824 to $2,881.92. For a family that includes a spouse and child, the cost of insurance would be more than $6,000.\nCurrently, IU only subsidizes the insurance for the student academic appointees and has said it will cover the majority of their insurance rate increases for next year. It does not pay for the insurance of their dependents.\n"We have a typical plan that insures the student," said Neil Theobald, vice provost of budget and administration. "The minute the student chooses to insure others, that's on a separate plan that we arrange."\nBut some said the increase in costs without a subsidy could price dependents out of the plans. Graduate student appointee stipends can range from $9,000 to $12,000, or more, based on department or specific appointment. \n"As it appears, the students with dependents on these plans are going to be forced to find some kind of alternative health care because of the extreme cost of unsubsidized dependents," said John Scott, chairman of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization's benefits committee. \nA few people suggested the state's Hoosier Healthwise program, which provides health care for free or with low premiums to low-income children, pregnant women and working families, as a possible option. Yet, at least one person said enrollment in such a program is less than ideal.\n"We're a professional student body -- I'm a scientist -- and the idea of putting my family on a Medicaid program when I could be out in the field making three times what I'm making now rubs me the wrong way," Remmes said. "Even though technically our gross income allows me to be on the plan, I think it's barely ethical for me to do it." \nDan Rives, IU's associate vice president of human resources services, cautioned, however, that the prices were only preliminary.\nInsurance premiums could also be reduced if the Student Academic Appointees Health Benefits Committee, made up of administrators and graduate student representatives, decides to decrease the coverage of the plans or increase other related costs, said Julie Swando, a graduate student who sits on the committee. Some options include raising deductibles or increasing co-pays, among others. \n"People with spouses and children aren't going to be paying the same premium this year. They're going to wind up paying more regardless," she said. \nThere are 252 spousal and 216 child plans, Rives said.\nThat relatively small number of claimed dependents among the students has created another problem, known as adverse selection. This is where only students who are likely to use services covered by insurance purchase the University plan, he said. Adverse selection is typically seen as a cause for increased rates. \n"This is student insurance, so we're insuring the student," Theobald said. "The reason why the cost (of dependent insurance) is so high is it's voluntary instead of mandatory."\nRives said an added benefit of the IU plan is that it does not include underwriting, or prescreening applicants. He said all dependents who enroll on time are approved. Insurance providers that screen participants could choose to deny coverage to applicants they consider unhealthy and therefore could cost a company more money to insure. \nPaul Rohwer, moderator of the GPSO, said subsidies were needed to help cover the cost of dependent insurance, and also to ensure the University remained competitive with other schools.\n"Every other university in the Big Ten offers some subsidy to their (graduate students') dependent," he said. \nProviding for dependents could lower the coverage for students, Swando said. \n"I think IU should subsidize part of dependent premiums and coverage but there usually is some kind of tradeoff with that sort of thing," she said.