Duke has expanded its student medical insurance plan to cover testing for sexually transmitted infections.
Coverage for STI testing only applies to students under the Duke Student Health Insurance Plan, underwritten by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina—a plan that students can waive if they show proof of alternate insurance. The Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee and Duke Student Government worked together to implement the change in expanded coverage.
Outgoing DSG President Pete Schork, a senior, said DSG originally hoped that STI testing would be provided for all students, but noted that the change still has positive effects on the student body.
Two years ago, STI testing was made available to all students through the student health fee, which all undergraduates are required to pay each year. In 2010, Student Health began charging students for the results of their STI tests because of a change in contract with the Duke University Medical Center lab that previously interpreted the tests at a steep discount.
“We never thought that [STI testing] shouldn’t be available as readily as possible to students,” Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek said. “We wanted to make sure there were no obstacles in front of students to prevent them from getting the testing they needed.”
Wasiolek added that the number of students who went to Student Health for STI testing decreased during the past two years when tests were not covered by the student health fee. This trend was concerning to administrators in Student Health, as well as DSG representatives, she added.
“I got in touch with [Student Health Executive Director Dr. Bill] Purdy, and we worked closely with him and a lot of people in student affairs responsible for student health,” said junior Gurdane Bhutani, outgoing DSG executive vice president. “We’ve been working with them for two years, and fortunately, we were able to come to a pretty good solution that everyone was pretty happy with.”
Bhutani said charging students out-of-pocket for STI testing has negative effects on Duke students as a whole.
“If you have the entire student body not getting tested—with many being sexually active—then the risk of diseases spreading is higher,” Bhutani said.
There will be a 3 percent increase in the insurance plan premium cost to cover the added benefits. Purdy added that he was pleased with this result since universities across the nation typically see an 8 to 10 percent premium increase when STI testing is added to health plans.
“Nobody likes to increase the premiums, but if you look at health care nationwide, it’s going up year by year, faster than regular inflation... so having a 3 percent increase—we were thrilled with that,” Purdy said.
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