State house bill could require universities to be health providers, collecting payment from insurers
Senator Steve Oelrich (R- Gainesville), Chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee and Representative Anitere Flores, (R-Miami), Chair of the House Prek-12 Appropriations Committee, today announced legislation intended to improve the quality of health care on college campuses, reduce health care costs for students and their parents and bring in revenue for universities.
“This law ensures students are accessing the health care they need and saves money for students and universities, which is especially important during these tough economic times,” said Senator Oelrich.
“Parents and students are looking for ways to save money. So many parents are already paying for health insurance coverage, and their children should be able to continue using that insurance while away at school,” said Representative Flores. “By fixing this problem, we can create a system where parents have an incentive to maintain coverage for their dependent children and prevent the number of uninsured students in Florida from increasing.”
The Student Health Insurance Protection Act requires universities to become an in-network provider with at least five major health insurance companies and managed care plans in Florida, which will lower the cost of services, such as office visits, for students seeking medical attention on campus. By requiring universities to recover the costs of providing medical care at the health centers from the insurance companies’ health plans for which parents have already paid, universities will realize a savings and extra fees for students can be eliminated.
“This bill will provide consumer protection for students, improve health services and should lower fees in the long-run,” said Chris Krampert, director of the Florida Student Association.
“This is a common sense solution to help parents, students and universities,” said Jim Boyle, President of College Parents of America, a nationwide organization supporting the Student Health Insurance Protection Act. “Lower fees, more revenue and better services will be the result of this forward-thinking legislation.”
The Student Health Insurance Protection Act is Senate Bill 2256/House Bill 885.
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Posted by admin on Mar 25 2009. Filed under Tallahassee. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
