Healthcare costs rose about 15 percent in the Delaware Valley this year -- so to stay affordable, the new Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee's plan includes a number of calculated compromises, changing the benefit package to offset increases in cost.
"It was nationally quite a harsh year," Associate Vice Provost for University Life Max King said. "For us to keep it at slightly over a 12 percent increase was really something."
SHIAC released the recommendations last night, to go into effect next year.
Dependent premiums rose 10.1 percent, while the premium for students without dependents went up just over $200, from $1,667 to $1,880. The nonpreferred care annual deductible rose from $500 to $750, while co-pays for outpatient lab and X-ray charges as well as office visits each increased $5.
The surgical expense co-pay rose from $100 to $150 per surgery. The plan will also no longer completely pay for the anesthesia, covering only 90 percent of the negotiated rate for preferred care and 60 percent for nonpreferred care.
There is also no longer a $1,000 out-of-pocket maximum per individual for prescription drugs.
SHIAC, chaired by Deputy Provost Peter Conn, is comprised of faculty, students and staff members with expertise in insurance.
University President Judith Rodin, who serves on the board of directors of Aetna, Inc., had already approved SHIAC's changes to the current plan, as had Penn's insurance carrier Aetna itself.
Citing Aetna's desire to "keep Penn as a good customer," King saw the newly negotiated package as a victory for Penn Student Insurance Plan members, especially against the backdrop of America's healthcare crisis.
"It's the way of the world with all health insurance," King said. "Our employee plans are along the same lines for this coming year."
SHIAC, analyzing data on which benefits are most used, left key components of this past year's plan "relatively untouched," according to King.
Evelyn Wiener, director of Penn's Student Health Services, said the adjustments were "relatively minor... in terms of out-of-pocket costs," adding that stability and effective care were SHIAC's primary concerns.
"We did a lot of looking at the benefits that mattered most to students," Wiener said. "There were no substantive changes in terms of the plan design."
SHIAC's goal is to "keep benefits the same without a huge increase in the premium costs," King concurred, adding that the plan will benefit students with dependents.
"Dependent coverage is very good," he noted. "Because dependents are included in our group rate, they get a set of benefits that -- if they had to go out and purchase them for themselves -- could cost from 30 percent to 60 percent more."
Since Penn began negotiating its healthcare with Aetna in Fiscal Year 2000, there has been a fair amount of fine-tuning. "We had had a plan that was underwritten by Aetna but was one of their off-the-shelf programs," Weiner said. "We found that that plan did not meet students' needs."
But Aetna has a solid working relationship with the University. "They've demonstrated a willingness to work with us," Wiener said.
A SHIAC and Graduate and Professional Student Assembly-sponsored open forum on next year's plan will take place this evening at 6:30 p.m. in Houston Hall's Bodek Lounge.
