Following recent feedback from the Graduate Student Organization, Syracuse University announced Tuesday that all graduate assistants will be allowed to remain on the university-sponsored employee health insurance plan “until such time that a smooth transition is determined.”

SU announced last month a new health insurance policy, which requires all full-time matriculated students to carry some form of Affordable Care Act-compliant health insurance. Current graduate students are scheduled to phase into the new policy for the start of the 2016–17 academic year. The policy will be offered by Aetna Student Health and switching to the Aetna Student Health plan would be a $558.36 cost increase for graduate students, said GSO Comptroller Sarah Ledford.

The GSO is also considering unionization in reaction to a perceived lack of transparency from the SU administration, including the decision to implement the new health care policy.

GSO President Patrick Neary could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Dean of the Graduate School Ben Ware said in an SU News release that SU leadership met this week and made the decision to allow all graduate assistants to remain on the SUBlue employee health insurance plan, “until a transition to the student health insurance plan is deemed agreeable by representatives of both the GSO and the university administration.”

“We would like to work with graduate student leadership on an implementation strategy that meets the health insurance needs of our entire graduate student population, not only those who are eligible for the employee plan because of their assistantships,” Ware said in the release.

The decision was communicated in a letter to the GSO from Ware and Senior Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, according to the release.

The GSO and the university have also agreed to form a new “Student Health Insurance Benefits Group,” which will be comprised of staff with expertise in health insurance, communications and health services. The group will work with graduate students to review the best options for graduate student employees, according to the release.

Two information sessions about the new health insurance policy have been scheduled for April 14 from 6–7 p.m. and April 15 from 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Published on April 7, 2015 at 11:59 am

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306