Health insurance to be mandatory for East Carolina U. students

When the 2010 fall semester arrives, students will be doing more than just preparing for the beginning of classes. They will also be considering health insurance options. Beginning in fall 2010, all students who wish to attend East Carolina University will be required to have some verifiable form of health insurance. If students do not already have their own or are not covered by their parents, they will be required to obtain insurance through the university.Some students who are aware of the issue are confused about why student health insurance is becoming mandatory on campus to begin with. In response, Jolene Jernigan, director for Student Health Center said, "It all boils down to the fact that people can't afford to be uninsured anymore. We're already serving an area with a low socioeconomic population and with that comes greater health risks." When considering the type of coverage ECU's insurance will offer, the SHC took into account the common needs of the university's population and catered the plan to fit those needs.Jernigan explained that right now students who do not have health insurance don't usually opt for the voluntary health insurance that ECU provides, unless they have some currently existing medical issue, because the cost of it is so expensive.Jernigan recalls one student who had a severe hand fracture, but refused to have surgery due to the lack of health insurance. The student is now living with a hand deformity.What will the hard waiver health insurance from ECU cover? According to Jernigan, the insurance is not a wellness plan. It is for sickness and injury coverage.For students, that means that things like random STD screening are not available unless there is a complaint. Checks for high cholesterol are not covered either. However, Jernigan assures that the SHC will find ways to work around the plan in order to ensure that students receive the care they need. Dental and eye insurance will only be covered if students voluntarily choose to add those options to their plans. The hard waiver insurance will also extend to cover students if they need to be seen by a doctor off-campus. The coverage, however, will be slightly less than if they had been seen at the Student Health Center.In comparison, to the voluntary health insurance that ECU offers now, Jernigan states that the new hard waiver insurance will actually allow for better care than the voluntary insurance, the costs of which are continually rising. As of now, the voluntary insurance through ECU is around $1,200 a year whereas the cost of the new hard waiver should be around $400.

Student's financial aid packages will be adjusted to include the cost of their health insurance. However, according to SGA Vice President Bradley Teasley, even though there is an increase in the amount of financial aid needed due to the addition of health insurance costs, the state will not be increasing the amount of financial aid that they will be giving out to universities. Jernigan does assure that the financial aid department is attempting to find full coverage for the insurance, but there is no guarantee. Currently, financial aid does not cover the voluntary insurance that ECU offers. When the insurance becomes mandatory, though, students can receive financial aid in order to cover the costs. The only downside to the addition of health insurance to student's financial aid is that it will only increase the ever-rising amount of debt that college students are incurring.As for student awareness in the matter, SGA President Bradley Congleton states that because the implementation of the hard waiver is still a year off, the SGA has not yet begun any mass marketing campaigns to make students more aware of the upcoming hard waiver. They will begin to do so around the beginning of the spring semester in order to make those students who plan on returning for the next academic year more knowledgeable about the issue. "On ECU's campus, we've been able to be very vocal about what we would like to see done here," said Congleton. Congleton states that he has had meetings with Chancellor Steve Ballard, who decided to put off the implementation of hard waiver insurance in 2009 in order to procure more input from students. Last year, town hall meetings were held on ECU's campus to answer questions that students' had regarding the hard waiver insurance when it was expected to begin at the start of the fall 2009 semester. Jernigan says that the people who took issue against the mandatory health insurance were usually students who were already covered but did not like the idea of forcing other students to have insurance. Students without health insurance, though, seemed to be more in favor of the new plan. Jernigan states, "It really allows the people without insurance to be on an even playing field with those who already have insurance."