Health Plans To Adhere to HHS

Harvard University Health Services may have to make adjustments to its insurance offerings based on a decision last week by the Department of Health and Human Services that college health insurance plans must adhere to regulations contained in the Affordable Care Act.

Harvard’s Director of Federal Relations Suzanne Day said that universities are unique because the student health insurance offered plans offered do not fit neatly into the most common categories of employee plans and individual plans, and that, therefore, university plans were overlooked during health care reform.

Previously, college health insurance plans were exempt from the provisions of the health-care overhaul bill because consumers of college plans are generally adults between the ages of 17 and 30 years, who, by and large, do not require coverage for many ailments associated with advanced age.

According to critics of the new rule, the requirements of the recently passed health care reform bill are not necessarily appropriate for generally healthy young adults.

HUHS is currently in the process of reviewing the proposal, according to HUHS Director Dr. David S. Rosenthal ’59.

Rosenthal said that HUHS “routinely evaluate[s] our student health plan offerings to determine how to best meet our students’ needs.”

“HUHS is now beginning to evaluate these proposed regulations to determine their goals for student plans,” Rosenthal wrote in an e-mail.

In a letter to the White House in August, the American College Health Association—along with the American Council on Education and other organizations—wrote that certain insurance market reforms and the individual mandate, “could make it impossible for colleges and universities to continue to offer student health plans.”

The Department of Health and Human Services’ provisions include prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to students under 19 because of a pre-exising condition, and from dropping coverage when a student health plan enrollee becomes ill.

“This rule would ensure that these plans remain a viable, affordable option for students while guaranteeing that they are regulated consistently and offer transparent benefits to students,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a press release.

Harvard is in a unique position because Massachusetts already requires colleges and universities to offer student health insurance as part of its stipulation that all residents have coverage, and therefore already has in place regulations for university health insurance programs, according to Suzanne Day.

“We are looking for consistent standards across the board rather than two sets of potentially differing requirements,” Day said.

—Staff writer Zoe A.Y. Weinberg can be reached at zoe.weinberg@college.harvard.edu.