Across several years, dozens of international students have engaged with Students United to advocate for changes to the international student health insurance plan. The international student health insurance plan is managed by the Minnesota State system office and administered to international students at the 37 colleges and universities. The current plan is an annual contract negotiated by the System Office with United Healthcare. Nearly all international students must enroll in this plan in order to register for courses; this is intended to prevent potential financial hardship from seeking medical care, as the United States does not have a national health care system and basic medical care, without insurance, can be extremely expensive. However, the cost of the insurance plan itself (over $1900 this year) has been identified as a barrier for some students who struggle to afford it, are frustrated they pay but don’t use it, or are unhappy with the coverage. International student leaders have expressed a need for the fee to be more affordable and not increase annually, for them to have choices in their plan, and/or for stronger coverage options.
Students United believes that if the plan is intended to protect international students from financial hardship, Minnesota State must do everything in its power to keep the insurance plan affordable and accessible to international students, especially during this ongoing financial and public health crisis.
In 2019-2020, Students United successfully pushed the Minnesota State system office to search for potential new contracts, in the hopes that more affordable and/or stronger coverage options may be offered. However, due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the process could not move forward, leading to the continuation of the United Healthcare plan into the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, with annual fee increases by upwards of $100. During this time, we continued to push for research into other options as well as encouraged universities to implement installment payment plans, allowing students to split up the fee payment between their fall and spring semesters.
This academic year, we have continued our advocacy on this issue. Here is what we have secured so far this semester:
The Minnesota State system office agreed to draft a survey about the insurance plan to distribute to ALL international students in the system for their feedback.
The system office also committed to launching a new Request for Proposals process to start a search for a new health insurance provider for 2023-2024. They will launch this RFP committee this Spring 2022, meaning Students United will get student representation on the committee.
The system office has committed to finding a permanent, annual consultation structure around the international health insurance contract to ensure international students have an opportunity to give feedback on it annually.
We asked why they didn't want to search for potential new insurance plans for this upcoming school year (2022-2023) and the System Office explained that if they did that, they would have to use plan usage data from only 2020, because 2021 numbers won't be ready in time for a search. 2020 numbers would very likely yield high premiums (fee) quotes from insurers, because students’ usage of the insurance plan was very complicated in 2020 and insurers base their proposed yearly premium (fee) on a combination of things that include usage of the plan by customers.
In January, we will be working with the System Office on the process for establishing a consistent consultation structure between international students and those working with the contract. We will also be eagerly awaiting the charge for the working group that will help draft the RFP so students can gain insight into what options are out there in the market.
Want to get involved? Fill out our international student health insurance survey. We may reach out!