UnitedHealthcare StudentResources, Duke's new health care provider as of this Fall, explained its medical insurance plan to the Graduate and Professional Student Council's general assembly meeting Tuesday night.
The University announced its decision to switch health insurance providers last April, after a 30-year partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Matt Brinson, UnitedHealthcare senior account executive, reminded students of the company's commitment to have the same benefit structure as Blue Cross Blue Shield's former policy.
"If it was covered under Blue Cross, that should introduce ideally no difference in usage," Brinson said. "What was previously covered under the Blue Cross plan, we have agreed to cover."
Steve Kolar, vice president of UnitedHealthcare, explained that the company based its plan off of a combination of what the Duke committee had requested and the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan had previously offered.
"We really tried to mirror what was asked of us," Kolar said. "We understand we will have to make some changes to our policy, but we are going through those steps right now so hopefully we can have a solid policy out there and service the way we said we would."
StudentResources, a special group at UnitedHealthcare, works with colleges and universities across the United States.
Much of the agenda focused on why United's plan was chosen and the ways in which it was preferable.
David Kahler, a student health insurance advisory council member and fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in civil and environmental engineering, said UnitedHealthcare provides a superior policy.
"What United has done for us is great," he said. "If they are making too much money, we will get some of that back and that money will be held at Duke specifically for the benefit of the members of the health insurance plan."
This return system lowers the premium for subsequent years.
Kolar discussed UnitedHealthcare's customer service as one of the strongest features of the new health care program, although some GPSC members criticized this point.
"We have a Duke-unique customer service number so we can track all the calls that come in from Duke," Kolar said.
He added that in December 2008, UnitedHealthcare had received 665 customer service calls specifically from Duke and that it had taken an average of 24 seconds for the company to answer the calls.
Rhonda Fingerman, director of pharmacy services for UnitedHealthcare, explained that the insurance company offers a co-payment plan, a flat dollar amount for insured persons to pay for medical services. In contrast, Blue Cross Blue Shield offered a coinsurance plan, which uses percentages of costs to determine payments.
Fingerman added that UnitedHealthcare has worked hard to appropriately cover birth control for women. She explained that women can now choose to purchase a three-month supply of birth control at once.
"The original plan was that you could only get a one-month supply, which was unacceptable to the general population," Fingerman said. "Unlike Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare now offers women the option of picking up three months of birth control at once."
Students at the Marine Lab in Beaufort listened in on the meeting through microphone and had some complaints regarding the lack of network providers near the lab.
Kahler said UnitedHealthcare is focusing on addressing the complaints of students.
"Many complaints have been made on the online forum," he said. "A lot of those complaints are due to problems outside of United or problems we can solve."
Representatives from UnitedHealthcare said they were happy to receive complaints from students and eager to address such issues.
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