Over the years, the Graduate Student Senate of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has grappled with a growing concern regarding affordable health insurance for the graduate students it represents.
A committee appointed four years ago to extensively research the issue marked the senate's first step toward making health insurance more accessible to and affordable for eligible graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
A cooperative venture among the Graduate Student Senate, the Office of the Dean in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University Health Service and the International Office has resulted in an innovative approach to addressing the problem of providing health insurance coverage to all eligible graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
In the past, eligible graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences had the option of voluntarily enrolling in the RLI-Major Hospital Expense Insurance Plan. In the fall of 1995, the premium for this plan was $205 per eligible student.
Now, however, eligible graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences automatically are enrolled in the RLI-Major plan at a cost to an individual student of only $25 for 1996-97. The reduction in the cost to students was subsidized through a one-year voluntary freeze on stipend increases for graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Those graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who already carry private health insurance may be exempted from this plan.
"Our students have acted responsibly and taken exemplary leadership on important issues such as health care," said Robert E. Thach, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. "The University should be very proud."
Full-time graduate students carrying nine or more credit hours a semester and those fully supported by either Washington University or by federal or foundation grants receive the Base Medical Benefit Plan. Undergraduates carrying 12 or more credit hours a semester also receive this base plan, which is free of charge for both graduate and undergraduate students.
In addition to this base plan, which provides minimal benefits, eligible graduate students in the past had the option of voluntarily enrolling in the RLI-Major plan. The RLI-Major plan historically has provided good coverage for 98 percent of the cases reported. But affording the $205 premium proved to be a struggle for many graduate students, said Laurie Reitman, M.D., director of the University Health Service.
"Our primary concern was trying to provide universal coverage for our constituencies," said Chuck Munson, a Ph.D. candidate in business administration.
Munson, along with Alison Chasteen, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, co-chaired the senate's health insurance committee, which will continue its work through the newly formed Universitywide Graduate Student Health Advisory Committee.
"For our next step, we will have to determine if the plan is good enough," said Munson, "and if we would be willing to pay more for more benefits. It all remains to be seen."
Issues under discussion include an increase in the period covered and enhancement of outpatient benefits.
Reitman encourages eligible students to subscribe to the RLI-Major plan even if they are covered under their families' insurance benefits. "The major plan can act as a secondary insurance plan to help with deductibles and co-pays," she said. Students also may purchase additional health insurance coverage for their spouses and/or children through the University Health Service.
For more information, contact the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at (314) 935-6818 or visit the school's World Wide Web site at http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/AnS/GradSchool/health.shtml.
Information also may be obtained by contacting the University Health Service at (314) 935-6666 or through its Web site at http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~health/.
International students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences should call the International Office at (314) 935-5991.
Please send comments and suggestions to: