In order to stem Duke’s rising student health insurance costs, the Graduate and Professional Student Council searched to find the cause of the rise. GPSC officials distributed a survey last month to members of the health plan to help gauge interest on possible amendments to the plan. The results are in.
“People don’t really want us to strip the plan down, but at the same time they want the cost to be reasonable,” said Rob Saunders, community affairs coordinator for GPSC. “Most people aren’t happy with any type of increase.”
Duke student health insurance increased almost 22 percent last year—to $1,310 per student—and Dr. William Purdy, assistant clinical professor and interim medical director for Student Health, said he expects another 20-percent hike for the coming year. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina is the provider for Duke’s insurance plan and determines the yearly increases.
Saunders said the survey was the result of a preemptive move to determine how much premiums would raise this year. A student health committee met and found students had been using their health insurance more this year. “If the company is paying more, we will pay more,” Saunders said.
The survey was designed to figure out how students wanted to deal with the looming increase in costs. Students surveyed were split between maintaining benefits with higher premiums and reducing benefits to manage cost increases.
A large amount of negative feedback was directed at drug reimbursement rates. According to the results, 54 percent of those surveyed were against decreasing the reimbursement rate. Under a lower rate, students would have to pay more money out of pocket for prescription medicine. “We clearly don’t ever want to deny drugs people need, but we want to encourage people not to buy a drug because it’s on TV,” Saunders said.
The survey also examined what Saunders called “creative solutions” to getting the most out of the Student Health Center. Results showed some students chose an outside doctor or the emergency room before visiting student health.
That news will serve as a starting point for the Student Health Center to improve service. “What it means to us is that we need to do better and more marketing. Some of the reasons that people go right to the emergency room or specialists is that they are not aware of all of the services we offer,” said Jean Hanson, administrative director for student health. “It’s a challenge to get information in the right places for people to read it.”
In addition to a possible joint information campaign with Student Health, GPSC will look for ways to encourage students to adopt healthier lifestyles in order to lower premium increases over the long term, Saunders said.
With the survey complete, GPSC representatives are still waiting on the final numbers and a proposed plan from Blue Cross/Blue Shield sometime in the next few weeks—in time for a final decision sometime in April.
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