Dan Hill of the Hill, Chesson and Woody insurance firm addressed health insurance concerns of the Graduate and Professional Student Council Monday night.
Hill, a founding member of the firm that brokers insurance for Duke students, said he expects health insurance premiums, currently $1,063 per year for those who purchased insurance from Duke, to increase by about 15 percent this year. Premiums increased 17.4 percent last year, and 20 percent in 2002. Hill attributed the rising costs to increasing prices in the medical industry.
"The rate of inflation in medical care is... a national problem," Hill said. "When you add up increasing medical costs, pharmaceutical prices and government mandates, you should expect a 15 percent increase [in premiums]. For all the technology, all the advances in health care, you're seeing people living longer, as well as increased health care costs."
Rob Saunders, GPSC president and chair of the health insurance subcommittee, said that the Insurance Advisory Committee, made up of undergraduates and faculty as well as graduate and professional students, will meet with Hill next week to vote on next year's insurance plan. Saunders said that the committee had increased the copay rate from 10 to 20 percent to control premium costs in past years.
"I hoped [the rate] would be less," Saunders said, adding that official changes in the insurance plan will not be known until after the Insurance Advisory Committee meets with Hill next week. "The health insurance market is always in a state of flux."
GPSC representatives asked Hill how long premiums would continue to increase, arguing that they could not afford to pay much more. All Duke students are required to have health insurance, and while most undergraduates are still covered by their parents' plans, graduate and professional students typically purchase insurance from Duke and by extension, Hill, Chesson and Woody. Hill countered by saying that his firm's rates were competitive compared to other firms'.
"We do go to the marketplace for you," he said, adding that Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the insurance that Hill, Chesson and Woody broker to Duke for its student health plans, is among the best in the country. When students voiced reservation that Blue Cross/Blue Shield, traditionally a nonprofit organization, had made considerable profits recently, Hill responded that profitable health insurance firms translated into lower rates, arguing that firms losing money will raise rates to compensate.
Director of Student Health Bill Christmas also addressed concerns about student health care at the meeting. He said that his department had completed a preliminary budget, and did not anticipate an increase in the student health fee, which is currently estimated to be about $520.
Christmas discussed plans for restructuring student health, presenting a new model that would involve dividing student health administration into an executive director, a medical director and an administrative director. Christmas also said he was considering adding parking for students along Flowers Drive just in front of the student clinic, but added that securing those spots might be difficult because many well-established faculty favor them.
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