Health plan irks foreign students

Elsie Effah expected to pay $360 for health insurance this year. Instead, the Engineering senior from Ghana now has to sign up for a $930 plan by tomorrow or she may not be allowed to register for classes next semester. "I don't know where I'll get the money," Effah said this week. Effah is one of a number of international students who had planned to sign up with the Penteco Student Insurance Plan. The plan, which costs $360, is specifically geared to foreign students. But when these students came back to school this fall, they learned the University had rejected Penteco for not meeting University standards. And according to University policy, all students must be covered by a health insurance policy in order to attend classes. Student Health Service Director MarJeanne Collins said she rejected the Penteco plan because it does not cover pre-existing health conditions. State law requires students to have insurance which covers pre-existing conditions. Student Health Director Collins said her office will allow international students who expected to pay for a less expensive plan to delay their payment until November because of the confusion. But first-year Engineering graduate student Sanjay Udani, who had also planned on signing up for the Penteco plan, said it is unfair for the University to have a monopoly on the insurance plans international students can use. "Not giving us a choice is kind of absurd," Udani said. If students do not want to use the University's plan, they will be forced to purchase an individual insurance policy, which is more expensive than the University's plan and other group plans like Penteco. Ann Kuhlman, associate director of International Programs, said Udani is not alone. She said 250 students signed a petition calling for the University to allow foreign students to purchase a plan specifically for them. "There does not appear to be other policies which meet the waiver requirements and are less expensive than the Penn Plan," Kuhlman said. "The changes in what constitutes an acceptable policy has left them without the options that they previously had." The University's plan differs from the Penteco plan because it covers pre-existing health conditions, as mandated by state law, which drives up the premium. Although the general premium could be reduced by making students with pre-existing conditions pay extra, Collins said insurance should be need-blind. "If we're going to have a plan, it has to be for all students," she said. Collins said she understands international students would prefer a plan tailored for them. But she said a separate plan would only make the existing Penn Plan more expensive for everybody else. The $930 premium for the Penn Plan is a $227 increase over last year's plan. Over $100 of the increase went for conversion coverage which will enable students to continue with their insurance after graduation without acquiring drastically higher premiums. Another $48 provides catastrophic coverage of up to $1 million in the event of a serious accident. The rest of the increase is to meet claims costs and medical inflation. "Philly is an expensive city due to the high quality of technological care that is available," Collins said. She added that for the past few years, claims costs have exceeded premium costs. But Collins emphasized the University does not earn any money from the insurance plan. She said an outside actuary has assessed the market and has determined that the University has charged a fair price. Student Health will have an open meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight to discuss the insurance policy in the Penniman Room, second floor Houston Hall.

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