Only a small crowd of 10 Graduate Student senators attended an informal meeting last night.
The meeting featured a round table discussion with Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi about the new healthcare coverage. Under the new health care coverage, the premiums would increase by 13.25 percent.
Graduate Student Senate President Tracy Kelly said she wants to explore other options in order to bring down the cost for graduate students. Kelly proposed writing letters or sending a petition to the insurance company asking it to lower the premium even further.
While Graduate Student Senate would like to lower the premiums, Lombardi is not sure there is much more the university can do to lower them once again.
Unfortunately
I don't think (we can lower rates)...that is why we are kind of late because I have begged and pleaded for them to cut their premium Lombardi said. (And with that) they have actually cut the commission that they are getting with the broker's fee. I do feel as though they made an effort to keep it as low as possible.
Even though the 13.25 percent increase is a larger number, we still have one of the lowest premiums in the state schools in Ohio, Lombardi said.
Kelly emphasized the need for low cost coverage.
This is an affordability issue Kelly said, adding that graduate students must already pay increased general fees.
Lombardi offered four other options for healthcare coverage
With the first option, insurance would pay for 100 percent of medical expenses up to $5,000, and then 80 percent of expenses up to ª$50,000.
The second option calls for an increase in the prescription drug co-pay.
The third option increases the per-person, per-occurrence deductible to $100 from the current $75.
The last option raises the per-person, per-occurrences deductible to $200 from $75.
The current plan will require students to pay $1,245 for coverage next year.
We are concerned about affordability for students and we have looked at some options to increase the affordability by changing the coverage for next year...and (to) bring premium cost down Lombardi said. My personal opinion would be not to change the coverage.
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Olivia Arbogast
