U. insurance policy stricter

Almost 3,700 students will find a noticeable increase on their tuition bills this week.

As a part of the revised student insurance policies of the University, students who have not shown proof of health insurance with a waiver will be automatically enrolled in the $1,677 Penn Student Insurance Plan.

The changes were put into effect this year to better enforce Penn's insurance policies, and the University notified students of the changes in the waiver system last spring.

Students who have adequate health insurance -- insurance plans that meet the University's standards -- were able to waive their enrollment in the PSIP by Sept. 20. After that date, the 3,697 students who had not responded were automatically added to the insurance plan.

"It makes no difference what plan they have, as long as they have a plan," said Evelyn Wiener, director of Student Health Services.

Students were officially notified of their PSIP enrollment last night when an e-mail informed them that they were "out of compliance with the University's [insurance] requirements."

Of those default enrollments, Wiener said that she expects about half to waive their PSIP with alternate insurance plans during the next two weeks -- the last chance students enrolled by default have to cancel their plan.

Wiener said that the new changes were made to better protect students.

"In the past years, we've had thousands of students whose insurance status has just been unknown," Wiener said.

"For students who will need medical attention, it is imperative for the continuance of their studies that they know that they are able to afford" medical care.

Penn's insurance enrollment was formerly a "soft waiver" system, a plan which enrolled only those students who chose to accept the PSIP healthcare.

This year the change was made to a "hard waiver" system, in which students are automatically enrolled into the PSIP unless they specifically waive their PSIP with another insurance plan that meets the minimum requirements.

In addition to the default enrollment, however, Penn officials also have been tinkering over the past few years with changes to the insurance plan that would keep both benefits and prices in line with student needs.

Each school in the University and many student groups, including the Undergraduate Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Association, offered input on the plan.

Once the alterations were complete, Student Health alerted students through e-mail and letters to the changes in the University's insurance policy, and a final warning e-mail was sent on Sept. 13.

College sophomore Amy Kidd had not signed up or waived her insurance on Sept. 13 when she received her final warning e-mail from Student Health.

However, instead of waiving the PSIP, Kidd enrolled in the plan.

"I just signed up for the insurance voluntarily because I think it's good insurance," Kidd said. "Having insurance isn't a bad thing, and it's worth it for the peace of mind."

Regardless of their health plan, each student in the University pays a clinical fee of $156 a year -- $78 a semester. The clinical fee was separated from the University's general fees in 2000, as a result of rising costs and in an effort to provide better healthcare.

"The idea was that medical expenses and charges are used differently" than other school charges, Wiener explained.

While the clinical fee has increased in the few short years of its existence, Wiener said that the increase was more of a reflection of the rates of inflation and other trends in medical expenses.

The cost of the PSIP has also risen during the past few years. However, Wiener said that the cost increases were "no different than increases by other insurance plans."

The price "might seem bad if you never get hurt, but it's worth it," Kidd said. "If you have some kind of serious injury then you'd have a lot of out-of-pocket expenses instead of just the cost of the insurance plan."

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