Members of the University’s Graduate Employees’ Organization union say graduate students have faced unexpectedly costly medical bills after the University increased deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums and prescription drug copays under its graduate student health insurance plan.
The University implemented the changes last fall, with deductible costs doubling from what was previously $150 to $300, out-of-pocket maximums increasing from $1,800 to $3,000 and prescription drug copays increasing across multiple tiers.
Union-protected graduate students enrolled in the insurance plan say the University never informed them of these increases, leaving them to find out only when they sought medical care.
GEO has since demanded financial relief and greater transparency, arguing that graduate workers cannot accommodate for these rising costs on their limited salaries. The University defended the changes, saying they were necessary to keep premium costs manageable.
‘Important cogs’ in the University
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“The University administration at no point communicated the changes in the healthcare plan to either the student body or the union,” said Matthew O’Brien, a graduate student studying condensed matter physics, and the lead negotiator of GEO’s bargaining team.
GEO members started investigating the issue after graduate students reported unexpectedly high bills after doctor’s appointments. Students accessed the University’s and UnitedHealthcare’s websites, discovered the new certificate of insurance and informed GEO of the changes.
“That came as a shock,” O’Brien said. “People turned up to medical appointments in the fall last year, and suddenly, they’re being told that they had much higher medical bills to pay. And so that’s how people started to find out, it came as a surprise to many of us.”
O’Brien said the University justified the increases by arguing that, without them, premiums would have risen even more. GEO and O’Brien say the changes unfairly shift costs onto graduate workers.
“We believe it’s in their financial interest to shift as much of the cost away from the premium onto the out-of-pocket cost, which they do not bear,” O’Brien said.
After students began reporting financial strain, GEO initiated impact bargaining, a process that allows unions to negotiate a material change in employment conditions.
During a bargaining session, O’Brien and another negotiator for GEO pressed the University’s lead negotiator, Robb Craddock, for a response to graduate workers’ who testified about high medical costs. Craddock is the executive director of the University’s Labor and Employee Relations department. Craddock initially did not respond. After a caucus, he returned with a statement, according to O’Brien.
“(Craddock) said graduate workers were ‘important cogs’ in the University,” O’Brien said. “That was the response. That was the type of response we’ve had so far.”
The DI contacted Craddock to verify this quote, as well as other statements alleged by interviewed GEO members, but did not receive a response.
‘Not a consumer when you’re hemorrhaging’
The University’s updated policy affected Clara Belitz, a graduate student studying information science, after she suffered a miscarriage in January. Doctors at Carle Foundation Hospital admitted her overnight and treated her with blood transfusions and emergency medication.
When she returned home, she expected to focus on recovery. Instead, she found herself facing hundreds of dollars in medical bills, even after financial assistance.
“I have seen the hospital bills, and they are hundreds of dollars,” Belitz said. “They’re halved because the University pays us so little. I’m enrolled in Carle’s financial assistance program and I’m entitled to 50% off all my out-of-pocket medical costs, and I’m still looking at hundreds of dollars in bills.”
At one of the impact bargaining sessions, Belitz said Craddock dismissed graduate employees’ concerns, telling them they should be “better-informed healthcare consumers.”
“You’re not a consumer when you’re hemorrhaging,” Belitz said. “I wasn’t shopping around while bleeding out for the best deal I can get; I was thinking about ‘What is the emergency medical care I need right now? What is, literally, the lifesaving care I need?’”
According to Belitz, Craddock suggested that graduate workers should go to McKinley Health Center, noting the McKinley student fees are included in graduate students’ tuition. Craddock did not respond to a request to confirm or deny these statements.
McKinley’s website recommends that those in emergency situations call 911 and lists OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center and Carle as emergency facilities in Champaign-Urbana.
“I wasn’t going to go to McKinley when it was very clear that they weren’t going to have what I needed to have at that time,” Belitz said. “To have the University suggest that the problem is that we as employees and students are not educated was pretty insulting.”
Graduate workers with families struggle with premiums, delayed subsidies
Graduate workers enrolled in the University’s health insurance plan with dependents say the University’s health insurance creates significant financial strain, forcing them to pay large sums upfront while waiting months for reimbursement.
O’Brien said the University subsidizes the premium cost for one dependent enrolled in a graduate student health insurance plan, but that this subsidy is not applied immediately; workers must pay the full premium upfront and wait months for reimbursement.
For families with multiple dependents, the financial burden is even greater. Graduate workers with more than one must cover the full cost of any additional dependent coverage entirely out-of-pocket.
Justin Holmes, a graduate student studying sociology, who has a spouse and children, told The DI in a written statement that the policy has put his family under significant financial stress.
“We had to pay huge sums of money upfront at the start of the semester to cover the cost of premiums, instead of being able to pay month to month,” Holmes said.
He said having to renew coverage for his wife and child each semester caused gaps in coverage, leading to additional strain and complications when dealing with doctor’s appointments during those transitional periods. Holmes and his wife contacted UnitedHealthcare for clarification, but the insurance company did not address their concerns.
“(My wife) tried to establish care with a primary care provider (in network), and that 15-minute appointment with a routine blood draw as part of an annual check-up cost over $1,700,” Holmes said. “UnitedHealthcare would not cover it, and she was forced to pay for it all out of pocket.”
When Holmes’ wife became pregnant, she called UnitedHealthcare to ask if prenatal visits were covered.
“They could not give her a straight answer, only saying ‘they might be covered,’” Holmes said. “It was hit or miss what was covered in her prenatal appointments, and she finally decided to end her dependent coverage, as it was so unreliable and difficult to deal with.”
An unexpected cost at the doctor’s office
For Kirsten Barker, a graduate student studying musicology, the price increases disrupted her ability to afford medical care she had financially planned for months in advance.
“I didn’t look too closely at the new insurance cards because I just foolishly assumed that it would be the same as last year,” Barker said.
She scheduled a specialist appointment a year early, expecting to pay the same amount as she had previously. Instead, after the appointment, she was charged $300, when last year the same appointment cost $150 — the cost of the deductible from last year’s insurance plan.
“I had not budgeted for that,” Barker said. “I like to budget my healthcare in advance because it’s very expensive.”
The sudden increase in medical costs left her no time to prepare.
“There’s no way to really control or plan for that when it’s such a sudden increase,” Barker said. “I’ve been very concerned that my medication rebate card will run out because medication prices have increased so much, and there’s no way for me to know in advance when it will.”
No immediate resolution as talks continue
In response to concerns, Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for strategic communications and marketing, defended the changes, stating the University has the authority to modify health insurance as long as it complies with the collective bargaining agreement.
“The collective bargaining agreement gives the University the sole discretion to modify the terms of graduate health insurance as long as it doesn’t conflict with the agreement, and the changes implemented don’t conflict,” Kaler told The DI via email.
The University maintains that the changes comply with its contract. Graduate workers say the financial and emotional strain remains unresolved.
