Health at Duke is a topic that at best can be described as ephemeral in the minds of graduate and professional students. One could rightfully assert that most graduate students understand the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between their personal health and their academic pursuits. However, to assert that the vast majority of graduate and professional students know their options in the face of illness proves more difficult. As I enter my third year as a graduate student, and seventh year overall, I have found myself in the position of directing people to student health, helping my peers find clinics where they can receive primary care, and searching for places to get good dental care. 

Duke University offers a decent health care plan (SMIP) for graduate students and their family members, but at times, the lapses in coverage, particularly around dental procedures, can prevent students from getting the services they need. I am interested in serving on both the Student Health and Student Health Insurance Advisory committees because I would like to be an advocate for student needs. As a medical and business student, my academic pursuits match up well with the skill set required to be an effective member of these committees. If selected, my two goals on the committee would be to one increase the student access to health services by helping the committee develop better outreach initiatives targeted to graduate and professional students; and two push for a dental insurance option for graduate and professional students. By meeting these two goals, Duke University can begin to be intentional about helping its graduate and professional students maintain a work life balance.

I did not sit on a University Committee last year due to academic commitments; however, I have sat on the President's Council on Black Affairs for the 4 years prior to last year. As part of this committee, I have help develop numerous reports and recommendations on how we can improve both black life and diversity at Duke. Thus I am intimately familiar with the way university committees work and the time requirements and preparation that goes with the job. 

MD/MBA Candidate, Duke University

President's Council on Black Affairs, Committee member 

Duke Annual Fund Executive Committee, member

Duke Police Advisory Committee, member

Discussion centered on on-going issues students are having in dealing with UHS (getting claims filed, customer service not knowing benefits of plan, etc).  Jean Hanson generously volunteered to be a contact person for students still trying to resolve issues with UHS.  The idea of self-funding insurance was discussed again, with members planning to contact various private colleges in NC and see who would be interested in this type of insurance, and see who would support legislation allowing this type of policy. 

The issue of care providers at Beaufort was brought up with issues still remaing as to how to expand the list of providers in that area.

 MALS was discussed again, along with the issue of seeing what the demographics of this population is, and seeing if it's possible for some students to pay the health fee. 

I believe they have been well-received thus far.

The committee is continuing to work on the previously mentioned issues. 

None at this time.

Role of committee, details of insurance plans, potential to self-support insurance system, possible changes to coverage of Nicholas School students in Beaufort

Very well; every comment has been taken seriously and considered

None, except for ongoing projects listed above

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One of the main topics discussed was the ability of students to get their claims filed properly with United Healthcare.  There were reports that many students have been having issues dealing with representatives at UHC that were telling Duke students they were not covered for certain services when in fact they were.  At the meeting, University representatives (Dr. Purdy, Jean Hanson, student health reps, etc) said that they were aware of it, but believed those issues with UHC were being resolved if they had not been already. 

A second topic of dicussion was coverage for Duke Marine Lab students who were having trouble finding providers who would accept the new insurance.  I believe Dr. Purdy and a second student health official said that they were going to make a trip to the marine lab to talk with students and/or providers in the area to get this issue resolved. 

An additional topic of discussion was getting students (both undergrads and grads) to make a decision about their insurance early in the year and not waiting for the default option of being signed up for insurance when they fail to enter a decision.  Options and alternatives as to what could happen to students if they decided to not make a decision about their insurance were discussed.  As a minor issue, coverage for international students who had health insurance outside of the US was also brought up.

Since I have only been to one meeting with members from the University, I believe everyone's concerns were well received so far, but I believe more discussions about UHC are needed, especially if changes are needed for next year. 

I think we still need to look at whether or not the issues with students filing claims with UHC and having serivices covered has been resolved, or it's continuing. 

Perhaps a little more clear communication at the start of regular meetings concerning the roles of each member as well as meeting times/places would be really helpful to get the new members up to speed about their responsibilities. 

Since the beginning of the semester, the student committee has met once, the full committee has met once, and members of the student committee met with UHCSR representatives at the Graduate/Professional Student Health Fair.

As coverage under the new UHCSR plan began in August, the committee has largely been focused on resolving issues that have come up during the transition from BCBS to UHCSR.  These issues include: the provider network (both in terms of the lack of in-network providers in Beaufort and the accuracy of the online listing of in-network providers and facilities), the enrollment process and distribution of insurance cards, customer service problems as the representatives were still becoming familiar with our plan, and categories of students that may or may not be allowed to waive out of the insurance policy. 

We have also discussed the future of the plan, and the possibility of having a partially self-funded plan at some point in the future. 

Though information about the new insurance policy is available online in many places (on the GPSC website, on the Student Health website, and on the UHCSR website), it still seems that students have a hard time finding the information they are looking for and navigating the policy.  I'm not sure what the solution is, but we need to find more ways to get this information to the students.

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We have largely focused on issues / problems relating to the new health care plan. My role in this has been to address two concerns that have been brought to my attention by fellow graduate/professional students: (1) The need to extend coverage to dependents who are full-time students between the ages 18-26 (which has been done) and (2) To push for increased provider options for students located at Duke's Marine Lab (ongoing).

My main concern is a lack of clear communication within the committee. The committee needs increased structure and there needs to be an easy way for Duke students to be able to contact their committee members (i.e., a listserv that goes to all our email accounts).

None.

None.