The Tufts health care insurance plan has recently undergone several significant changes that will take effect for the upcoming academic year. These amendments will make the plan more effective at providing both undergraduate and graduate students with the coverage that they deserve.
The advancements expand coverage to a variety of previously uncovered or strictly limited situations. Under the revised plan, graduate and undergraduate students will receive coverage regardless of pre−existing conditions. They will have hospital bills covered up to $250,000 (a 150 percent increase from the current plan) and receive unlimited coverage for outpatient surgery care. Prescription drug costs will be covered up to $2,000, a 30 percent increase from the current plan. The cost of the plan will be $1,473 for undergraduates and $1,549 for graduates, an increase of only about five percent.
Though these adjustments are certainly laudable, prescription drug coverage ought to go farther. Last academic year, 75 students exceeded the $1,500 limit. An increase of only $500 may not be enough to cover similar future cases. Prescription drug coverage is one of the most important and frequently employed aspects of any health insurance plan, especially on a college campus, where illnesses that require drug treatment — from allergy medication to antibiotics — are common. Future negotiations should stress the necessity of expanding coverage in this area.
The prescription drug coverage may have been taken into greater consideration had the administrators making these decisions taken student voices into account while negotiating with Aetna Student Health, Tufts' health care insurance provider. Student Health Organizing Coalition (SHOC), a group that aims to include students in discussions regarding health insurance, was only consulted during the initial meetings, while the actual decisions were made behind closed doors. Though many of the plan's changes represent marked improvements based on SHOC's recommendations, the exclusion of students in the decision−making process may have prevented further advances from being made that would ultimately benefit those who are actually purchasing the insurance.
It would be rewarding for students to have some input into their treatment by the university and the partners it contracts with, particularly given that those students are paying a large amount of money to access the insurance plan that the university and Aetna provides. They thus deserve a wide opportunity to observe and potentially influence the negotiations that will determine their own health care. The participation of student groups such as SHOC could form a collaboration that might provide useful insights. Just because they are not yet health professionals does not mean they cannot be part of an intelligent, informed, serious discussion. Even though SHOC members were largely satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations, Tufts should be attempting to provide students with the best coverage possible, which could be achieved by encouraging collaboration with students on an issue that is so vital to their university lives.
Ultimately, Tufts ought to be commended for securing several significant improvements to its official health care insurance plan. An extra $150,000 of increased hospitalization coverage is itself a major achievement. However, these successes are not reasons to limit advances in other important areas, including prescription drug coverage. In the future, the university should consider the involvement of those who stand to be most affected by the changes Tufts students themselves.
