Senate to speed insurance action

The chair of the University Senate injected new urgency into the debate over health care at the university last week, setting a deadline for the senate committee considering whether to recommend making insurance mandatory for students.

In an emotional appeal, Senate Chair William Montgomery called for the senate's Student Affairs Committee to prepare its recommendation by March, which would put the university on track to implement any new policy by the fall of 2009.

The deadline represents a shift in tone for Montgomery, who supported the committee's recent move to push its decision off until the spring. It was originally slated to finish by the end of this semester.

"If we miss a deadline, we're pushing this a long way back," Montgomery said. "Fall 2009 is a long time from now."

"This is a real problem that I've seen firsthand," Montgomery added, drawing on the son of a close friend's experience navigating the health insurance maze when he needed hip-replacement surgery.

Dr. Sacared Bodison, the University Health Center director, spoke to the committee at its last meeting in support of making health insurance mandatory in order to drive down costs and get uninsured students covered.

While students can get basic treatment at the university's clinic for just $10 even without insurance, more expensive treatment is not covered, Bodison pointed out.

"For $10, they can hear me talk, but they can't get a lab or an X-ray," Bodision said. "We see a lot of new lymphomas. By the time they've gone through [chemotherapy], they've exhausted $15,000."

When the student affairs committee returns from winter break, the committee's chair, Roberto Munster, is expected to have a draft of the recommendation. Committee member Pat Mielke, also an assistant vice president for student affairs, said the recommendation will likely outline plans to require all undergraduates who aren't insured to buy a policy through the university, which insures them at least $100,000 per injury or illness.

The university plans to use the extra revenue to pay for the coverage of students in the Maryland Pathways program and Pell Grant recipients, who would most need this monetary assistance.

"In order to avoid driving these students away from the university, the university will have to support them," said university President Dan Mote.

Students who pay for health care through the university would be at an advantage if the plan gets implemented. The university plan costs $1,300 per student per year, but that cost would likely fall to around $800 if a mandatory policy was in place, Bodison said.

Even after the Student Affairs Committee makes its recommendation, any new policy will face additional hurdles.

The policy will be discussed in public forums and then taken up by the Senate Executive Committee, which will decide whether the policy is ready for a full senate vote. Then it will be up to Mote to implement it.

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