UH Student Health Insurance Plan Benefits Some, Costly For Others

By Tina Ng

The University of Hawai‘i has an affordable as well as thorough health insurance plan for students, said Glenn Nochi who is the special projects coordinator for University Health Services.

Nochi and staff members at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa’s Health Education Program work together to endorse the University Student Health Insurance Plan. For the past three years, the university has been working with HMSA to provide affordable health insurance to students. This health insurance plan is offered system wide to all 10 UH campuses as well as Chaminade University.

Benefits of the Student Plan

One of the bigger benefits of having the University Student Health Insurance Plan is the amount of money a student will be saving. A health insurance plan from HMSA may cost an average of $2,400 a year.

However, the UH student insurance plan offers similar coverage for $1,607.76. The University Student Health Plan is medical insurance and the university offers a basic and comprehensive plan.

Photo by Tina Ng

Reid Rosehill is a lab assistant at the University Health Services.

Coverage

The basic plan costs $1,117.56 a year and is strictly medical insurance. The comprehensive plan covers medical, prescription drugs, vision, life insurance and accidental dismemberment or death insurance.

Nochi said that the UH plan is a very unique college health insurance plan for two reasons. The first reason is the plan has no deductible, which Nochi explains as “what individuals have to pay out-of-pocket before receiving services.”

Along with no deductible, the plan has waived the pre-existing condition wait period. In most cases where an individual has a condition such as asthma or cancer, the individual may have to wait for a year to receive any benefits from their insurance company. However, the university plan waived the pre-existing condition wait period and covers the student from the first day he applies for a plan.

“It’s very generous in that you get first day, first dollar coverage,” added Nochi.

Receiving Health Insurance from an Employer

Nochi said that both the basic and comprehensive are similar to what people would get through employment.

UHM graduate Ryosuke Fukui has health insurance through his employer at Sawayaka Hawaii Inc., but while attending UHM he was covered by the UH plan.

Now that Fukui is covered through his employer, he said that health insurance is more expensive now that he is not a student. He currently has health insurance with Kaiser Permanente but declared that the UH student plan was better and added, “I wish I still had it.”

Although Nochi endorses both the basic and comprehensive plans, he emphasizes the comprehensive plan because “one of the biggest ticket items might be a hospital stay and the comprehensive would cover 100 percent,” while the basic plan covers only 80 percent.

Life without Health Insurance

Nochi pointed out that without health insurance a one week stay at the hospital plus examinations and physician care would cost the individual “thousands and thousands of dollars out-of-pocket.”

Architecture student Francis Ko can relate to paying hospital bills without the assistance of health insurance. He was hit by a car last October while on his way to his architecture studio on the M?noa campus. After the accident, he was taken to the emergency room where he was evaluated by only a doctor. He said that single visit cost him about $600.

Prior to his accident, Ko said that health insurance was on the bottom of his list of priorities, but after his accident, he said, “Now I wish I had health insurance at the time of my accident.”

Nochi described health insurance as a “living expense rather than a nice to have,” and added that health insurance “is so important because it’s sort of a safeguard to cover those catastrophic events.”

“One reason why students may not graduate is because they have an illness or injury where they can no longer afford to pay for the expenses and they need to drop out of school,” Nochi said.

Financial Aid, Loans and Health Insurance

Lorenzo Perillo, a graduate student at UHM, is living off financial aid and does not have health insurance. He said he is aware of the UH health insurance plan but “was
not financially in a position to purchase it in the beginning of the year and neither am I now.”

He admits to being “wary of how much emergency room costs,” especially since Perillo’s only form of transportation is his moped.

Thao Nguyen, originally from California, transferred to UHM two years ago. She is relying on loans to cover her rent, food and transportation expenses, but her loans are not enough to purchase health insurance.

Although she was covered under the UH plan for her first year at UHM, she had to stop because she was not able to make a full payment.

She said: “I think it (the UH plan) would be better if students could make monthly payments. It’s a little much to ask right at the beginning of the year.”

Without any coverage, she says she is worried because she gets sick often and “there is always something wrong with me.”

Although Nochi advises all students to get health insurance, it is required only for international students under UH policy.

For international student Masumi Kimura, having the University Student Health Insurance Plan is valuable. In Kimura’s situation, she said she has been covered by the comprehensive UH health insurance plan since she started attending UHM.

Kimura says that it she is happy with the comprehensive plan because the coverage is very extensive and includes prescription drugs as well as vision services. She said that the plan was affordable in the past, but since the price recently increased, she says that it is too expensive now.

Kimura added, “Because it’s so expensive, I cannot pay it at once” so she purchases the plan one semester at a time.

However, she suggested that if the comprehensive plan included dental benefits, the price she currently pays for health insurance would be worth it.

“Dental services are really expensive without insurance and you usually have to buy a separate dental plan,” she said.

Prerequisites for purchasing UH Health Insurance

In order to be eligible for the UH health insurance plan, students must at least be enrolled as a part-time student in the UH system or Chaminade University. This means that undergraduate students need to meet a minimum of six credits and a graduate students need to meet a minimum of four credits during the fall and spring semesters; however, a minimum of three credits is required for the summer semester.

Students have the option to purchase the university health insurance for only the fall, spring or summer semester; fall and spring semester; spring and summer semester or purchase annual coverage for the fall, spring and summer semester.

Coverage is available for individual, two-party and family plans with varied membership dues for each plan.

However, before purchasing health insurance, Nochi advises students to learn the details of health insurance and be familiar with the terminology.

He said, “My advice would be to become educated and aware about coverage and price” because appropriate health insurance should not be based only on price. Once a student has completed the research, it will be easier “to see a plan that meets your needs versus an excessive or one un-insuring you.”

For more information about the University Student Health Insurance Plan, contact Glenn Nochi at 956-5862 or visit his office in the Queen Lili’uokalani Student Services Center in room 313A.