Sen. Yousef Al Khan isn’t opposed to making health insurance mandatory for all students. In fact, Al Khan believes it is a good thing.
But many of his constituents have noted to him that they could have better insurance at a lower price.
It was because of these concerns that Al Khan is the author of a bill up for vote today in Student Senate, encouraging the University to amend its mandatory health insurance policy.
Al Khan states in his resolution that he wishes “the administration would take the necessary steps to urge the health services department to revise the plan and benefits to what best suits the general population of SMU and partner with who provides the best at minimum cost.”
While his resolution encourages the University to amend its policy, Al Khan emphasized that he only wants to see “if there is any way to make the plan better for students cost-wise.”
He acknowledged that the University’s plan “might be the best,” saying the school is better in determining what students need, and he agrees with SMU that a plan should be required.
The University began to implement its policy of mandatory health insurance this semester. Executive Director of Health Services Patrick Hite said the process takes a minimum of three to four years.
International students are currently required to have SMU’s health insurance. Al Khan has been waived from the requirement and said the concern is 100 percent from his constituents.
Hite said there are four waivers for the program: students who have a J-1 visa, students who are provided insurance by their government that is equal or better than SMU’s insurance, students who have insurance provided by the athletic department, and students who have an F-1 visa and have employer-provided health insurance through their parents who work in the United States.
Hite said about half of the international students have health insurance from SMU, but that the plan was “still pretty much voluntary.” Hite said the University works with students on an individual basis to determine if they need to buy SMU health insurance.
In January, Hite said the goal is to have new students, both domestic and international, enrolled in the plan if they do not have health insurance. By Fall 2009, Hite said he hopes to try to roll out the plan to the general population.
However, Hite said there wasn’t a set timeline in place, and the current health insurance plan “may be going out this year.” He noted that the current plan has been offered for four years, and was picked because it was “reasonable and cost effective.”
Hite will be meeting on Wednesday to hear proposals from different companies to look at other plans.
