Shelbie Harris
News Editor
Idaho State University’s spring 2016 semester is officially underway, and by now, current students and incoming freshman should be laying the foundation for a successful 16 weeks of instruction.
After three weeks of winter vacation, this may involve students changing their sleeping schedules, purchasing textbooks and putting together a budget outlining additional finances such as an ISU computer account, parking pass or late night caffeine allowance.
However, one financial burden ISU students will not have to worry about until at least next semester, is student health insurance.
The Idaho State Board of Education (SBOE) passed a resolution on December 10, to temporarily suspend, until September 2016, the mandatory student health insurance requirement for all full-time students enrolled in institutions subject to SBOE oversight, which includes ISU.
“The board made the decision to waive the health insurance requirement and leave it to the discretion of the institutions based mainly on a few different reasons,” said Blake Youde, chief communications and legislative affairs officer for the Idaho SBOE. “As we saw health insurance costs rising on the exchange we were also seeing students who weren’t able to afford those policies, but last February it was the other way around.”
According to SBOE minutes from December 10, many students with limited financial means have fallen into what insurance providers consider a “coverage gap” – their income is too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to qualify for federal subsidies.
Though about 80 percent of people who purchased insurance through the state’s Health Insurance Exchange Marketplace qualify for some type of subsidy, the minutes state at least 70,000 limited-income individuals fall in the coverage gap category in Idaho alone.
The Health Insurance Marketplace presents plans in four metal categories: bronze, silver, gold and platinum with “catastrophic” plans available to some.
According to the SBOE minutes, students and their families are facing steep increases in prices for policies offered on the state exchange, with average prices for a minimal bronze coverage plan exceeding $200 per month.
“We were seeing the health exchange policies were cheaper than what the institutions could actually offer through their SHIP programs, and that’s why we didn’t require them to offer it anymore,” Youde said. “Students were seeing economic advantages by either staying on their parent’s policy, or if they needed their own, going to the exchange where it was significantly less.”
In addition to rising health insurance costs affecting financially limited students, the SBOE also discovered the definition of Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliant insurance plans provided in the revised Board policy to be technically inaccurate, and it did not reflect the actual provisions of the ACA.
The SBOE minutes state the ten “essential health benefits” described are applicable for most individual plans, but may not apply to ACA-compliant group plans.
“We created a zone where we had students who under federal law weren’t required to have health insurance because of their financial condition, but we had a state policy that said they had to have health insurance to enroll,” Youde said, adding, “which was certainly an unintended consequence at the time.”
Youde also explained the SBOE delegated authority to institutional presidents to determine how to handle cases of non-compliance during this period.
A December email sent from the ISU Office of Student Affairs to all faculty, staff and students states, “Due to a myriad issues related to verification of income and tracking, ISU will not enforce [the mandatory insurance] policy during the [s]pring, 2016 semester.”
According to Youde, this change in policy is a perfect example of how the SBOE initially did something in the best interest of students, but after identifying issues that hindered students from achieving their educational goals, and the discovery of unforeseen obstacles, the board made the necessary revision to the policy moving forward.
“The board elected to waive the policy, and it’s their intention to come back in February with some type of final resolution,” Youde said.
ASISU President, Mackenzie Smith, will be involved in all discussions on this issue, and though no longer mandatory, all students are encouraged by the Office of Student Affairs to purchase health insurance.
For more information about health insurance options, contact the ISU University Health Center at 208-282-2972.
