A draft of the U.S. Senate health-care reform bill, also known as S. 1796, was missing a provision up until last week that addressed university-provided student health insurance, which would inhibit the ability of higher-education institutions nationwide to offer student health plans.

Washington state Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office reported last Thursday that the omission in the draft was rectified by an added clause that explicitly protects student health-insurance plans.

The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS), along with several other student-advocacy groups nationwide, lobbied for this amendment until it came to fruition.

On Nov. 10, Jake Faleschini, president of GPSS, and Sarah Reyneveld, vice president of GPSS, sent a letter to Sen. Patty Murray and Cantwell regarding this issue.

“[We] are concerned that S. 1796 includes no language regarding limited duration products,” they wrote. “We fear that this would eliminate the ability of colleges and universities to offer health insurance to their students, forcing students to obtain health care through alternative means.”

Student health-insurance plans are categorized as “limited duration products,” as they are purchased to provide service for a finite amount of time, such as during a quarter, semester or school year. This category is distinct from the “individual” and “group” plans that had been addressed in the previous draft of S. 1796.

Nationwide, there are about 9 million students that are covered by university-provided health-insurance plans. At the UW, there are more than 5,200 students covered by the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) and SHIP Plus as of the current school quarter, said Diane Hanks, assistant director of the Business Services and Student Insurance Office. In addition to this, there are about 4,500 graduate students and 500 dependents that use the Graduate Appointee Insurance Program during any given quarter, according to the Benefits and Work/Life Office.

University-provided health-insurance programs are offered at a relatively lower cost that other plans may not be able to provide, due to the collective purchasing power of the student population.

“Due to economies of scale, the UW can offer lower-cost health-insurance plans to students than, for example, a small business with five employees,” Reyneveld said in an e-mail.

Moreover, the ability of higher-education institutions to provide students with insurance plans incentivizes enrollment and degree completion, especially at the graduate and professional level.

“Specifically, as graduate and professional students, there are a lot of opportunity costs of coming to graduate and professional school,” Reyneveld said. “A lot of people make more money, for instance, if they’re in the professional world. … [In order to] not only recruit those students, but [to] retain them, it is vital that those students have access to good student health insurance.”

The omission of “limited duration products” from S. 1796 is believed to have been unintentional.

“Per our conversations with the UW Office of Federal Relations, other national partners, and staff on the Senate, we think this was just an inadvertent omission,” Reyneveld said.

While “limited duration products” is still not directly addressed in the bill, student health insurance is protected by the new added clause: “Nothing in this title (or an amendment made by this title) shall be construed to prohibit an institution of higher education (as such term is defined for purposes of the Higher Education Act of 1965) from offering a student health-insurance plan, to the extent that such requirement is otherwise permitted under applicable federal, state or local law.”

S. 1796 was scored by the Congressional Budget Office on Nov. 18 and now awaits debate on the Senate floor.

Reach contributing writer Joanna Nolasco at news@dailyuw.com.