More services covered under insurance law
After the U.S. Supreme Court officially approved the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this summer, health care providers, insurance companies and customers are still struggling to find out what the new legislation means for them.
Many students and are still confused as to how PPACA will affect them. According to the new law, individuals will not be required to carry healthy insurance until 2014, but the university currently requires all graduate students and international students to carry insurance. For some, it means that they will be able to stay on their parents’ health insurance plan for a few more years (until age 26). For others, it means they will be paying $660 this fall for a university health insurance plan through Pearce & Pearce (though graduate assistants will receive a $275 subsidy from the university to help pay for their required coverage.)
At USC, Thompson Student Health Center executives are at least hopeful that new insurance coverage requirements from the PPACA will mean a higher demand for preventative health services from vaccines and blood pressure screenings to nutritional consultations and de-stress massages.
Full-time students already pay a $169 student health fee for the 2012-2013 school year. The health fee covers office visits for routine and chronic illnesses, 12 counseling sessions and support group therapy. That fee also covers a few preventative services, such as blood pressure screenings and fitness and nutritional consultations. In past years, students have had to pay out of pocket for vaccines, physical therapy and prescriptions.
However, with the PPACA requiring insurance companies to cover more preventative services — including cholesterol screenings, vaccinations and birth control — students may have a greater incentive to seek out those services.
That’s a good thing, according to Thompson’s public relations coordinator, Nicole Carrico. While it may take some time for many students’ families’ insurance companies, such as BlueCross BlueShield and Humana, to incorporate those services in their plans, she expects to see many more students seeking preventative care.
“We really are counting on a lot more students to come in and start asking for those benefits once other, larger insurance companies start renewing their policies,” Carrico said. “Over the long term we really hope that students come in and ask for more of those preventative care screenings — lab screens, tests, HPV screenings, bloodwork and STI and STD testing.”
The health center is already planning on expanding its office to streamline Thompson’s health services with USC’s two Campus Wellness offices, located at the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center and the Blatt P.E. Center and the counseling center, located in the James F. Byrnes Building. Officials expect to break ground on the project spring of 2014.
“The new building will bring all our services together in one location, so we’ll really be able to practice integrative care,” Carrico said. “It will be a lot easier, and that’s going to drive up visits.”
Campus wellness already provides most general health screenings, such as nutrition and exercise consultations and stress management programs (including massage therapy). Carrico says these services can be just as important to preventative health as vaccines and lab screenings, and while they’re already free to students who have paid their health fee, the fact that many students’ insurance plans will also start covering these types of services is a step in a healthier direction.
“I’m hoping preventative care benefits are going to get people thinking about their health overall,” Carrico said. “I hope people will become a lot more aware of what they can do, and I hope in that exploration that they look at all we offer here. We don’t want people to just use us as a last resort. We want students to come in, use our resources to avoid getting ill in the first place.”