Because the current economic climate may make it more difficult for students to afford health insurance, the College has modified the Dartmouth Student Group Health Plan to give students more flexibility to sign up for the plan late. The two major amendments to the plan were outlined in a March 10 letter to students by DSGHP supervisor Ginger Farewell-Lawrence.
Dartmouth Medical School professor Jack Turco, director of the Dartmouth Health Service, said that the College wants to ensure that students have a "reasonable option" if external health insurance is no longer a viable choice.
"We really want to make sure students have insurance," he said, adding that Dartmouth requires students to be insured.
Previously, students could only enroll in Dartmouth's plan in the fall unless they involuntarily lost their health insurance, in which case they could enroll late under the "Qualified Late Enrollee provision." The altered plan makes this provision more extensive to help students and their families who have been affected by the crisis. Students can now enroll in the plan late if, since Dec. 1, "the student's health insurance plan has had a change in network providers, the scope of coverage of the student's health insurance plan has decreased in value by more than 10 percent (e.g., a deductible has increased from $100 to $500), or the employee's contribution for the cost of the student's health insurance plan has increased by more than 10 percent," according to the letter.
The altered plan also gives all students who decided not to enroll in the DSGHP last fall a one-time "open enrollment opportunity," according to the letter. This will allow students who did not elect Dartmouth insurance at the beginning of the year to opt in between April 1 and Aug. 31 without any special circumstances .
Students will be charged an adjusted fee of $693 for this period, according to the letter. Students who enrolled at the beginning of the fall were charged $1,654 for the year, the health service web site states.
"Students can feel comfortable that they can rely on the DSGHP as their sole source of health insurance protection," the letter states.
The modifications may have a limited impact, however, Turco said. He noted that most graduate students at the College already take advantage of the insurance, and that 30 to 40 percent of undergraduates are enrolled.
"I don't think the changes will change things dramatically," he said.
The modifications will not affect the College's budget, Turco said, although they may affect the DSGHP's finances, but he emphasized that DSGHP does not aim to make money.
"[DSGHP is] not run to make a profit," he said. "It's run to break even."
This is not the first time changes have been made to the insurance provisions, according to Turco, citing the College's intent to serve students as best it can in a changing climate.
"There have been small tweaks to the plan in the past," he said.
He noted, however, that the new modifications were implemented primarily to deal with the current economic crisis, and they likely won't be continued in coming years if the financial climate improves.
Associate Dean of the College Gordon Taylor, the executive officer in charge of the health plan, is currently traveling and could not be reached for comment by press time.
