<p>We all know that colleges and universities at times conduct themselves no better than credit card issuers and banks, installing nickle and dime fees for every little thing. Well I'm annoyed about two matters I've read about recently.</p>
<p>First, Central Washington University was caught by the State Auditor using the student fees fund for general administrative costs. Huh? And even when exposed and admonished by the State Auditor and the former County Attorney whom handled the students complaint pro bono, the university administration basically said 'it's OK, we can do this whenever we like.' Thankfully, the state flagships in Washington said that they do not engage in this practice.</p>
<p>Secondly, during an interview on a local public affairs TV program, a think-tank type of advocate was addressing the implementation of State Health Exchanges under the new national universal health care program. Almost offhandedly the guy said that colleges are eliminating health "coverage" for students for fear of additional cost brought by the new law. Huh? If that's the case why do colleges still levy a fairly hefty health fee upon students? And if my employer insurance covers my college student, why am I paying the university for health coverage?</p>
<p>At most universities, if a student has equivalent health insurance coverage that will cover that student where the college is located, they can choose to waive that student health fee. Our kids waived it at both of their schools because we carried them on our plan, and the coverage was equivalent to or better than what the university offered. You need to check the policy for this at YOUR student’s university.</p>
<p>In the past universities and colleges have often offered health insurance plans with very low policy limits - say $50,000 maximum. This is fine for most college aged kids, but there have been instances of college students who get cancer or some other expensive disease and then discover that their college health insurance quickly runs out and find themselves with basically no coverage for extended or expensive treatment. The reason that colleges have offered policies with low limits is that they are significantly less expensive, and many of their students are covered under their parents’ policies anyway.</p>
<p>The new healthcare law says that you can’t sell health insurance policies that have policy limits. In my view, this is like the law saying you can’t sell a new car that doesn’t have seatbelts and airbags. Congress has decided that health insurance policies with limits and cars without seatbelts and airbags are dangerous or unacceptable products to have in the marketplace. You can argue that this is an intrusion in the ability of consumers to choose a product that they want, but there is a long history of legislation that says that some products can not be sold.</p>
<p>This means, however, that colleges find that the student health insurance policy that used to cost $x will now cost 1.5 or 2 $x. (possibly even more - I don’t know exactly) If they think that few will purchase the health insurance at the higher price, they may decide to stop offering the policies, especially since many undergraduates, at least, will have insurance through their parents. We will have to see how this all plays out.</p>
<p>My main concern is, it appears in the literature in one of Lake Jr.'s college choices that a student cannot opt out or get the health fee waived. I’ll have to go up the chain of command to double check that.</p>
<p>But are you talking health fee or health insurance? My kids have a “health fee” that covers such things as the recreation center and the health center, where they can get flu shots, or see someone for a minor illness. But health “insurance” is an entirely different matter- as Thumper said, that can usually be waived upon proof that your kids are covered under your plan.</p>
<p>Exactly. My kids paid a very nominal health FEE that covered routine visits to the student health center…not a high fee at all (I think it was $200 a year)! They waived the university INSURANCE which was about $1500 a year.</p>