NY Has University Students’ Health Care Investigated
You are not the only parent concerned with the issue of health insurance for your college student. Andrew Cuomo, NY Attorney General, is scrutinizing the deals between universities and insurance providers.
Specifically, Cuomo would like to end universities mandating that students buy certain health plans in order to get in. This is generally targeted to those that are getting monetary incentives in return for doing so.
Although most students have health benefits through their parents, some university health care facilities will not accept the parent’s health plan. A New York Times article reports this.
Alternatively, they accept only the universities preferred coverage. President of College Parents of America, James A. Boyle states, “[Offending] campus health centers do not accept [their parents' coverage] as payment for service. Instead, some schools force the student, as a condition of enrollment, to purchase health insurance policies offered by the school.”
Cuomo has repeatedly asked some of New York universities to keep track of their interactions with health insurance companies. One of Cuomo’s assistants said,”With students and their families being financially squeezed at every turn, colleges must ensure that they are looking out for students’ best interest first and foremost as opposed to their own financial bottom line.