"The DSGHP exceeds the standard guidelines issued by the American College Health Association for an appropriate, credible student health insurance/benefits program that is affordable," DSGHP and patient accounting supervisor Ginger Farewell-Lawrence said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
Turco noted that the Dartmouth student plan's quality of coverage is not necessarily the norm for college health insurance plans.
"There are many colleges that won't be able to continue [their plans as they stand] because their plans are not good," Turco said.
Just over 50 percent of Dartmouth undergraduates are covered under the student plan for the 2009-2010 school year, Farewell-Lawrence said. This figure is an increase from 20 percent of students covered, the rate which has been the norm in recent years, Turco said.
"It has become more and more expensive to add a dependent to parents' insurance," he said.
Seventy-nine percent of U.S. private colleges require students to obtain health insurance, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Those private institutions including Dartmouth require students to choose between a school-sponsored insurance plan and a comparable private plan.
"Annual premiums can be more than $2,500 and some do not cover pre-existing conditions or prescription drugs," according to a report released by the New York State Office of the Attorney General on April 8.
The annual cost of DSGHP coverage is $1,786 and does not account for pre-existing conditions when granting coverage.
Some colleges do not cover pre-existing conditions, prescription drugs, mental health counseling and injuries from alcohol-related incidents, according to an April 8 article by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Dartmouth student health plan covers prescription drugs, infertility treatment, mental health counseling, alcohol- and athletics-related injuries and prophylactic vaccines, Turco said.
The Dartmouth student health plan is a partially self-funded insurance plan, which means that Klyse & Company, Inc., the plan's third-party administrator, processes the plan's insurance claims but does not have financial responsibility for paying them, according to Turco.
"[Klyse's] job is to pay the bills out of our pot of money," said Turco.
Rather, the College pays the costs of care, collects premiums from students, chooses what coverage it provides for students and carries the financial burden of student coverage, Turco said. The plan also eliminates any "middle men" that could lower the plan's cost ratio the measure of the cost of providing actual medical care as a percentage of what students pay in premiums, he said. Turco estimated the Dartmouth student plan's cost ratio to be 90 percent.
"We have a very high percentage of money that comes from premiums going to insurance," he said.
The DSGHP advisory committee reviews the plan annually and makes adjustments according to the health needs and price considerations of the students, according to Turco, who is a member of the committee.
"We've worked hard to make sure we have a plan that really fits the needs of the people we're dealing with," said Turco.
Turco explained that the freedom to customize Dartmouth's health insurance plan puts pressure on the College to act in the best interests of its students.
"When you have a self-insured plan, there's lots of responsibility to the people you serve," he said.
