SHOC

SHOC: A History

2009-04-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Student Health Organizing Coalition (SHOC) is a student-run organization that is devoted to reforming the student health system in Massachusetts. SHOC was founded in September of 2008 at Tufts University, comprised of four charter members. Since that time, Tufts’ SHOC chapter has grown to sixteen members and has expanded to Brandeis University.

SHOC has reviewed nearly all university health insurance plans across Massachusetts for the 2008-2009 school years. In addition, members of SHOC have met with many students who have had poor experiences dealing with student health insurance plans at several schools, including but not limited to UMass Boston, UMass Amherst, Tufts, Brandeis, Simmons, and Emerson. Based on both these stories and the current state of the student health insurance system, SHOC has outlined three types of problems with student health insurance in Massachusetts.

1) High Costs, Poor Coverage – While premiums and deductibles are comparatively low for student health plans, the hidden costs to use such plans can be exorbitant. Nearly all plans have low per-service caps ($1,500), 20% co-insurance rates with no out-of-pocket limits, the exclusion of preventative care, or prescription drug benefits.
2) Questionable Insurer and Broker Practices – Most students will have their first experience with navigating health insurance in college with their student plan. Customer service by insurance carriers and brokers is inconsistent, and students are not offered clear and transparent information about their plans.
3) Education vs. Health – The current health insurance mandate for students requires students to purchase health insurance in order to attend college within the Commonwealth. While the rest of Massachusetts residents have a similar mandate, they are offered subsidized plans if they cannot afford comprehensive insurance. Students are specifically excluded from these state subsidized plans, even if they are Massachusetts residents and are income eligible. For these students, the choice often comes down to paying for their education or paying for their health, with the combination being unaffordable.

Currently, the Massachusetts government is taking two actions which may be the beginning of substantial reform. First, the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, a Massachusetts state agency, is currently collecting information on student health plans, such as the cost of premiums, the number of students who exceed their caps, and excluded services. The second step being taken is in the form of a bill put forth recently by State Senator Moore, which is currently assigned to the Committee on Higher Education.

Regardless of the results of these two actions, any substantial reform to student health insurance that gives both affordable and comprehensive coverage to students must embody the following principles:

- Eliminate all maximum caps on insurance company payments.
- Expand coverage to include necessary benefits such as prescription medications and preventative care
- Create an out-of-pocket maximum for all students
- Allow eligible students to enroll in Commonwealth Care (state-subsidized program)
- Set standards for insurance carriers and broker practices, and monitor their compliance
- Allow substantive student input into plan selection and require plans to offer transparent and clear information.

These are the principles for which SHOC will fight in any reform to the student health insurance system.

If you have ever had poor experience with student health insurance or are interested in being a part of SHOC, please contact me, Aaron Marden, at aaron.marden@gmail.com.

- Aaron Marden

Student Health Insurance: An Introduction

2009-04-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

In April of 2006, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted health care reform that required nearly all residents of Massachusetts to have health insurance coverage. While some have considered Massachusett’s decision a health reform milestone, both legislators and state agencies knew that simply insuring its residents was not sufficient to enact total reform, or to bring about better health. The state took measures to guarantee that the insurance offered and subsidized to its residents was adequate in terms of services covered., thus creating the Minimum Creditable Coverage (MCC) standards, which include comprehensive coverage, including prescription drugs, while requiring out-of-pocket spending limits and prohibiting infamous caps on minimums. Yet, while the state took many steps to not only insure all of its citizens, but require them to have comprehensive coverage, the Commonwealth neglected a large segment of its populations: its students.

Since 1988, both undergraduate and graduate students have been governed under the Qualifying Student health Insurance Program (QSHIP). Yet, for still-unexplained reasons, students have been left out of Massachusetts' new health care reform. Despite the fact that nearly every plan in the Commonwealth was forced to meet MCC standards, QSHIP was not held accountable to these standards. This has left students (approximately 77,000 undergraduates in 2008) on student health insurance severely underinsured. Some student health insurance plans have exclusions of both prescription drugs and preventative care, outpatient caps as low as $1,500 and annual caps as low as $50,000 (See Community College Plans). These plans have forced students to either take on medical bills they cannot pay, or simply avoid care to ensure financial viability. In addition, some students with medical debt are eligible for Massachusetts Free Care. This results in the Massachusetts government subsidizing poor health plans by shuttling their members into state-funded care when the original health insurance plans prove insufficient.

While Massachusetts health care reform offers subsidized plans to nearly all residents, students are excluded from these options simply by dint of being students (even if these students pay taxes and are Massachusetts residents). Therefore, if a student needs to have comprehensive coverage, the only options are to either purchase an extremely expensive private plan (which may be impossible if the student is already paying for his/her tuition), or to drop out of school, thereby qualifying for state subsidized plans. The current system forces students to choose between their health and their education, and Massachusetts health care reform has not yet done anything to ease this dilemma.

- Aaron Marden
Founder of SHOC

SHOC's Quick Policy Factsheet

2009-03-11T14:44:00.000-07:00