Pearce & Pearce plan insures a quarter of UNC students

Because so many students chose the new insurance plan offered by the UNC system, the cost of the plan is likely to stay constant.

At the end of the process to appeal the automatic Pearce & Pearce coverage last Thursday, 7,041 students at UNC-CH were enrolled — about 26 percent, said Dr. Mary Covington, executive director for UNC Campus Health Services.

The University had guessed about 10 percent of the campus might be uninsured, Covington said.

“But it seems a lot of people chose to get on the policy,” she said.

The enrollment rate across the whole system was not a surprise, system administrators said.

Across the UNC system, 55,118 signed up for the Pearce & Pearce insurance plan, which is about 29 percent.

“The number of students who ultimately enrolled was consistent with expectations,” said Joni Worthington, spokesperson for the UNC system.

If not enough students had signed up for the $361.50-a-semester plan, Pearce & Pearce and not the UNC-system would have lost money.

Based on the initial enrollment numbers, this should not be a problem, Covington said.

“We went into this with no expectations because we’ve never done this before,” Covington said.

If the number of students enrolled had fallen short, it would have been up to Pearce & Pearce to adjust the costs and raise the premiums for next year to make up for the lost money, she said.

“The financial relationship is solely between Pearce & Pearce and covered individuals,” Worthington said.

“The university does not pay into the health insurance plan and receives no financial remuneration from it.”

There is no way to know how many of the enrolled students actually wanted the coverage compared to how many just didn’t get the message to opt out, Covington said.

“No way to get out now,” she said.

Although the timing of the system-wide insurance coincides with national health care reform, Covington said the system-wide plan has been in the works for years.

“The timing is suspect,” she said. “But we just happened to coincide with Obama.”

The process started two and a half years ago and has included several steps, including going through the UNC-system Board of Governors, she said.

And the process has yet to be completed. The insurance policy will continue to develop as administrators get more feedback from students.

“As we finish this year, we start working on next year,” Covington said.

She said administrators will be looking to improve the policy through examining clauses such as allowing student’s dependents to be covered.

Students are now mandated by the UNC system to have health insurance, and the system-wide insurance plan provides them an option.

Mark Holmes, UNC professor in the health policy and management department, said there are some provisions in health care reform that could help students, but unlike the system’s plan, those will be limited to specific groups.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.