35% say no to NYU health insurance
30 01 08 - 11:23
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: University Jane Timm and Jessica Kramer
For about 35 percent of them, filling out the form is worth the trouble.
WSN interviewed 75 students yesterday and 56 said that they had chosen to waive the NYU insurance; according to the NYU Student Health Center, about 18,000 of NYU's 50,000 students have.
Many of the students WSN spoke to said they found the policy confusing and restrictive.
One possible issue is the price increase between the fall and spring semesters. The spring plan automatically covers the summer, whereas students can buy coverage for the fall or summer terms seperately.
That means that basic fall semester coverage costs $589, while the basic spring plan costs $935.
"The daily cost of the health insurance plans is the same during the fall, spring and summer," said Diane Tobing, the assistant director of insurance and billing at the NYU Student Health Center.
But Dr. Henry Chung, assistant vice president for student health and the executive director of the Student Health Center, acknowledged that the current plan could cause problems.
For example, a graduating senior who purchases NYU student health insurance for his spring semester and then gets health insurance from his employer would be paying for two plans during the summer months. Chung said he would not be refunded the money he spent on NYU's insurance.
"I'd be interested in hearing from students about this issue and how many it would impact," Chung said.
Coverage isn't limited to NYU facilities. But some students said the policy did not give the universal coverage they had expected.
GSP freshman Christopher Sloan used to have the NYU insurance plan but canceled it this semester.
"My doctor and dentist at home didn't accept it," Sloan said. "I had to reapply for insurance under my father."
Sloan's mother, Charilyn Sloan, said that they applied for the plan originally because they thought it might make it easier for her son to access health services.
"Ultimately though, it wasn't easier at all," she said.
The policy and costs are mapped out by Aetna, the underwriter of the NYU policy, and the dates and pricing policy is dictated by the company, Chung said.
But the costs of the university's policy are still lower than the cost for most college-aged people to purchase health insurance on their own.
WSN requested a quote from Aetna for a 19-year-old student in Manhattan. The monthly cost for the low-cost plan, which applies to students with limited incomes, is $271.86 per month without pharmacy coverage and $308.15 monthly with pharmacy coverage. Purchasing the individual plan through Aetna costs nearly $2,000 more per year than the NYU policy. Quotes from other insurance providers were as high as $684.51 per month.
"The best way to capture this is that health insurance is one of the most confusing things," Cheung said. "If you ask most college-educated adults about their understanding of health insurance, we would all say we're less than satisfied with the understanding."
Additional reporting by Lauren Miro, Maricris Clave, Ariel Siegel, Eric Platt and Christine Giardina. Jane Timm is the university news editor. Jessica Kramer is a contributing writer. E-mail them at university@nyunews.com.