Good news in Guilford College student health insurance rate increase

(GREENSBORO, NC) Local bloggers Doug Clark and Sam Hieb have taken notice of Guilford College's increase in student health insurance rates, an increase Greg Bursavich, Vice President for Finance at the college explained:

“It is directly related – it is only related – to the new healthcare law,” said Bursavich. “There is no reason why it has gone up except the requirements of the new law have forced it to go up. That is the whole story.”

As Mr. Bursavich wrote in his letter to students announcing the increase, the new health insurance policies will indeed expand coverage to conform to the requirements of the Affordable Care Act—requirements such as no co-pays or deductibles for preventative care, no caps on essential services and a doubling of maximum coverage for other treatments.

The Act also mandates that insurance companies allow students to stay on their parents' health insurance through age 26, although Bursavich doesn't mention that in his letter.

Bursavich's explanation that the new health care law is the only reason for the increase—that it is the "whole story"—is remarkable when considered in the historical context of student health care insurance costs at Guilford College which have averaged a 42 percent yearly increase since the 2007/2008 academic year*.

If Mr. Bursovich is correct, that there is "no reason" rates have gone up except for the expanded coverage of the new health care law, that means the causes for the previous increases averaging 42 percent have been vanquished. Good news indeed.

(* Historical rates for student health insurance at Guilford College gathered from archived pages of the College's website: 2007/2008, 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011.)