Students should expect to see some tweaks in their University health care coverage this semester.The University switched health insurance providers earlier this month from GM Southwest, whose contract expired Aug. 13, to Macori, Inc.The biggest change students will notice is a reduction in the number of plans offered. Students must choose either the basic option or the enhanced option, which offers more benefits at higher premiums. The standard option has been eliminated.Shelby H. Conway, director of benefits and compensation with the Office of Human Resource Management, said the standard option was similar to the enhanced option. “There wasn’t a great enough disparity between the plans,” she said. “By eliminating the middle plan, we were able to make the higher plan richer.”Conway said the enhanced option includes a decrease in emergency room co-pays, an increase in the maximum pharmacy benefit and coverage for contraceptives.Out-of-network expenses will cost more, Conway said.The Louisiana Legislature recently passed a law allowing children to remain on their parents’ policy until they are 26, effective Sept. 23. Currently, students are only able to stay on their parents’ plans until age 21 or 24 if they are a full-time student.Students can enroll in the plan via PAWS until Sept. 10. After that, students must register through LSUstudentinsurance.com.The basic plan costs $1,044 annually or $531 a semester and pays $50,000 per injury or sickness. The enhanced plan costs $1,296 annually or $657 a semester and pays $250,000 per year. Students can sign up for payment plans with three or six payments.Graduate students can sign up at a significantly lower cost — $181 for the basic plan or $307 for the enhanced option.
 
 
 
—-Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]