2008 Woodie Awards
Miami health insurance requirement appears unlawful
Brian Graney
Issue date: 8/28/07 Section: OpEd Page
Politicians at all levels of government are always spewing rhetoric about the best ways to solve the high tuition costs at the nation's colleges and universities. Meanwhile at Miami University and at other Ohio public universities, the Ohio Legislature capped tuition but that remedy has not made much of an impact on the tuition bill. The elimination of one particular fee concerning health insurance, however, could have a noticeable effect on how much Miami students pay to attend classes.
This glaring fee, that many Miami students may not even be aware of, is the $822.00 charge for student health insurance. Though data is not readily available, it is not a leaping conclusion to assume most students already receive health insurance coverage through their parents or guardians. Last school year, I was made aware of the $822.00 fee and filled out a waiver online declaring I did indeed have health insurance coverage and figured that was the end of it. Au contraire. Miami assumed that in the past year I had somehow lost my health insurance coverage and conveniently tacked on that $822 again to my bursar bill and also set an artificial deadline of Aug. 31 for me to prove I have health insurance-otherwise I would have to eat the $822 fee.
Having health insurance is certainly important for an exhaustive number of reasons but it is not against the law in Ohio-it should be an individual's choice whether or not he or she wants to have health insurance-let alone Miami automatically charging every student $822 and turning the critical issue of health insurance into a money-making machine for the university and an insurance company called the Maskin Group.
The Maskin Group has instituted, with full Miami approval, a hard waiver policy that requires all students to fill out a waiver proving insurance coverage to avoid the $822 fee. If one is a Miami student without health insurance, apparently you must purchase the $822 health insurance. On the university's Web site, Miami asserts that "affordable health care is critical to success in academics and extracurricular activities …" without any clear reasoning or argument as to why they have set in place this requirement. Miami needs to explain exactly why the Maskin Group was chosen and how the hard waiver policy saves anyone money-particularly the vast majority of students who have health insurance and simply forget about the Aug. 31 deadline or are not made aware of the $822 fee. After all, I received a reminder last week about the insurance fee at my home address-in Cleveland-not Oxford.
Miami University is not a law-making body. If they feel strongly about all students having health insurance, the university should lobby the Ohio Legislature or the U.S. Congress to pass a law creating such a requirement. But as politicians constantly remind us, college tuition is already painfully expensive and Miami adding this fee certainly does not help alleviate the pain of paying the bursar bill. Yet even more importantly than the added expense this health insurance fee creates, Miami does not possess the legal authority to force any student to purchase health insurance-particularly a certain insurance plan that may or may not tailor to the medical needs of individual students.
This glaring fee, that many Miami students may not even be aware of, is the $822.00 charge for student health insurance. Though data is not readily available, it is not a leaping conclusion to assume most students already receive health insurance coverage through their parents or guardians. Last school year, I was made aware of the $822.00 fee and filled out a waiver online declaring I did indeed have health insurance coverage and figured that was the end of it. Au contraire. Miami assumed that in the past year I had somehow lost my health insurance coverage and conveniently tacked on that $822 again to my bursar bill and also set an artificial deadline of Aug. 31 for me to prove I have health insurance-otherwise I would have to eat the $822 fee.
Having health insurance is certainly important for an exhaustive number of reasons but it is not against the law in Ohio-it should be an individual's choice whether or not he or she wants to have health insurance-let alone Miami automatically charging every student $822 and turning the critical issue of health insurance into a money-making machine for the university and an insurance company called the Maskin Group.
The Maskin Group has instituted, with full Miami approval, a hard waiver policy that requires all students to fill out a waiver proving insurance coverage to avoid the $822 fee. If one is a Miami student without health insurance, apparently you must purchase the $822 health insurance. On the university's Web site, Miami asserts that "affordable health care is critical to success in academics and extracurricular activities …" without any clear reasoning or argument as to why they have set in place this requirement. Miami needs to explain exactly why the Maskin Group was chosen and how the hard waiver policy saves anyone money-particularly the vast majority of students who have health insurance and simply forget about the Aug. 31 deadline or are not made aware of the $822 fee. After all, I received a reminder last week about the insurance fee at my home address-in Cleveland-not Oxford.
Miami University is not a law-making body. If they feel strongly about all students having health insurance, the university should lobby the Ohio Legislature or the U.S. Congress to pass a law creating such a requirement. But as politicians constantly remind us, college tuition is already painfully expensive and Miami adding this fee certainly does not help alleviate the pain of paying the bursar bill. Yet even more importantly than the added expense this health insurance fee creates, Miami does not possess the legal authority to force any student to purchase health insurance-particularly a certain insurance plan that may or may not tailor to the medical needs of individual students.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Sean Balanger
posted 8/29/07 @ 10:33 PM EST
Well said.
I went through hell trying to get this waived. First of all, someone from Maksin e-mailed me saying it didn't go through. I proceeded to give them all the information on my insurance card because some of the fields in the waiver were named differently. (Continued…)
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