Compared to other private universities in the area, PLU can take pride in being a diverse campus with 114 international students attending this fall. New Lutes from across the world are taken care of in many ways: International Student Services (ISS) holds an International Student Orientation (ISO) in the beginning of the year and are open throughout the year to help with any academic, financial, and personal questions; Center for Student Success (SCC) holds academic advising all year long; Health Center, ISS, Risk Services, and Financial Services work together to provide international students with an insurance plan.
Insurance is required for all international students at PLU unless they have an equivalent coverage by a different provider. The insurance price for the 2024-2025 academic year was $1,428 dollars. This payment ensures that the student has insurance through Educational & Institutional Insurance Administrators (EIIA) starting August 15, 2024 through August 14, 2025. This year, international students did not hear anything about their insurance plans from PLU or EIIA until September 30th — a month into the academic year and a month and a half into their insurance coverage plan.
First-year international student from Myanmar, Theint Han, shared that she is “trying to not get very sick or injured” because she does not have an insurance card in hand yet. “They [Health Center] said that I would get an insurance card, and I have been here for seven weeks and I still don’t have [it]… that’s the farthest I know,” she added.
The lack of communication between PLU and international students happened in part because there is a new provider for international student policy, Robin Assist, and the change of providers happened later in the year than expected. Additionally, the physical insurance cards were not mailed to the Health Center like have been in the past. As the Clinic Coordinator and one of two Health Center workers, Doreen Splinter shared that she had a chance to talk to most international students about the basics of the insurance plan when they came to pick up the cards, however, this interaction would still happen by the end of September.
The month gap of communication makes more sense after Associate Director of International Enrollment & Student Services Heather Jacobson explains that “The ISS provides the names of enrolled students, the business office adds charge to student accounts, and the Risk Services is the one who communicates it to the insurance provider. The Health Center… they are the most knowledgeable in terms of helping students if they need to file insurance claims or understand what their insurance covers.” The process starts in late spring and goes until mid-September. Because September 1st was the final waiver deadline, insurance plans weren’t finalized until September 16th, explained Director of Risk Services Shawn Thompson.
Splinter encourages all students to visit the Health Center first if possible because “It is very hard to go back and correct self pay from the student vs sending the bill to the Health Center.” She explains that “If [students] need any type of medical care before their insurance card arrives, I can help arrange the charges to come to the Health Center.” However, if an emergency occurs and students “are transported to an emergency room and do not have their insurance card on them for whatever reason, they will receive a bill from the [emergency room doctor] and the hospital.” Splinter assures that she “will help them contact the business office of both services to have their insurance billed.”
Being in America and not knowing anything about insurance remains a sensitive topic for some international students. “This is the first time I am doing everything. I have some friends, I asked them what I could do, and they said to wait for the insurance card to come. Other than that I don’t think I have that much information,” shared a first-year international student from Ethiopia, Makida Tibebu. Han also adds that she would appreciate it if this topic was covered during the ISO: “I had three days of International Student Orientation, they didn’t cover that [insurance] at all.” Jacobson shared that while it isn’t as easy to include it in the ISO, “[insurance education by the ISS] is definitely on my list of something to look into because I know it’s confusing.”
Understanding American healthcare and insurance as first-year international students can be overwhelming. Reaching out to the Health Center, visiting the EIIA website linked on the ISS website (under Current Students, Insurance and Medical tab), or doing your own research will be your best bet until more information can be provided.
