A Graduate Student Healthcare Policy Forum took place Thursday in the Magnolia room of the Student Union to highlight recommendations for graduate student health insurance and hear from panelists on changes to address graduate student needs.
Graduate Student Association President Lyric Mandell shared results from a survey conducted by the Graduate Student Health Care Committee assessing healthcare coverage for graduate students.
According to the results, 97% of students surveyed think LSU should provide graduate students with healthcare, and 100% believe the university should bear the burden of costs related to health insurance.
J. Cullen Hodges, vice chair of the Committee on the Graduate Student Healthcare Crisis, explained that out of 6,480 graduate students, around 500 have the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP).
“This is very clearly an extremely unpopular insurance program,” Hodges said. “So, the one that makes this insurance program that is so unpopular, [Gallagher Student Health], is also the one that is responsible for making the graduate health insurance plan quotes for the new plan that we will be enrolled in next fall.”
Hodges showed the new Gallagher insurance quotes that are being discussed for implementation.
“Every one of these quotes, for different scenarios of pooling, the members are more expensive than the current untenable rate of $3,064,” Hodges said. “Gallagher also wrote down the percentages of these increases, the least expensive of which is still 4.5% more expensive for the same or equal health insurance coverage.”
Hodges then outlined the difference between universities who have union-negotiated health insurance contracts and schools like LSU, who do not. Prices were significantly lower for unionized universities, but services were the same, Hodges showed.
“The numbers don’t lie. The plan is simple,” Hodges said. “If you don’t have somebody representing your best interest as a worker, somebody is going to take advantage of you, and you’re going to get caught with the bottom line for which an insurance company is completely indifferent.”
Hodges explained facets of the graduate assistant health insurance policy recommendation that proposes not to use Gallagher as the middleman for the health insurance package.
In this approach, LSU graduate assistants would be enrolled in the LSU First Healthcare Plan with full coverage for individuals and dependents. Health insurance costs would not exceed 2% of the offered stipend, with remaining costs subsidized by the university and healthcare provider Our Lady of the Lake.
A graduate student attendee asked the panelists if there are plans to unionize against Gallagher.
“I didn’t see any of that in the policy recommendations,” the attendee said. “If it’s such a major difference between unionizing and not unionizing then the obvious solution is [to] unionize, especially since Gallagher is the only supplier … I’m sure there are dozens and dozens of other insurance carriers that would just love to get the LSU contract.”
The audience cheered in response, but panelists who consisted of health care and graduate school workers were not associated with any insurance company and did not respond.
In another discussion, panelist Joni Lemoine, senior director of OLOL, spoke about a new offering from the partnership between the Student Health Center and OLOL.
“We’re also looking to expand pharmacy options to deliver meds whether you are on campus or off campus,” Lemoine said. “Additional access to some specialists that may get a little more difficult today to get into, you’ll have more access to those — that group of physicians. You’ll remain on MyChart, so that even after grad school you’ll continue to be on that platform, which will continue to allow you to get healthcare.”
Geography graduate student Cehong Luo attended the forum to gather information on the policy changes.
Luo has the SHIP plan and asked about changes to co-payments for Student Health Center visits as a result of the partnership with Our Lady of the Lake.
Panelist Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief OLOL medical officer, explained that because SHIP was designed specifically for Student Health Center benefits and OLOL was not a previous Student Health Center provider, that plan had not been included as an OLOL member plan.
OLOL is currently negotiating with the plan carrier to reduce the cost of deductibles for the Student Health Center.
“We are actively, this week, seeking an agreement so that you don’t have to pay that co-pay,” O’Neal said.
LSU Associate Dean of the Graduate School Fahui Wang answers a student’s question on Thursday, March 30, 2023, during a forum on graduate student healthcare inside the Student Union in Baton Rouge, La.
