Starting this school year, University of North Carolina students will be required to purchase a private insurance plan or enroll in a campus plan that includes abortion coverage.
-- From "Students can opt for insurance that excludes procedure" by Gregory Childress, The Herald-Sun (Durham, NC) 8/12/10
Members of the UNC Board of Governors said Thursday they have been inundated with calls and e-mails in recent days complaining the new policy forces students who might oppose abortions to help pay for them.
In a statement posted on the Arlington, Va.-based Students for Life of America's website, Sarah Hardin, president of the N.C. State chapter of the anti-abortion group, said she was "dumbfounded" to learn last week that the university coverage included elective abortion.
"As a pro-life student at N.C. State, I am dismayed that my classmates will not only be forced to purchase health insurance, but will also be forced to pay into a pool that will go to aborting the children of other North Carolina students," Hardin said.
Under the new policy, approved by the board last August, students must have health insurance. They may opt out of the system's plan, which costs about $360 a semester, by showing proof of insurance elsewhere.
[UNC System President Erskine] Bowles said the inclusion of the elective abortion coverage had no impact on the premium for the university-sponsored plan, and individuals who choose to drop the abortion provision from the university coverage will not see a decrease in their premium.
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From "N.C. Students Who Opt Out of Abortion Coverage in Campus Health Plan Won’t Get Premium Reduction" by Christopher A. Guzman, CNSNews.com 8/17/10
. . . while the UNC administration has agreed under pressure from pro-lifers to opt out of the abortion coverage aspect of the campus plan, students on the 16 campuses in the UNC system who opt out will pay the same premiums as those who do not.
Under the plan, a benefit of up to $500 as well as 80 percent Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) coverage is available for “Elective Abortion.”
[Students for Life of America,] SLFA is concerned that students opposed to abortion on moral grounds may still have to pay into an insurance pool that subsidizes abortion coverage since costs for the insurance plan are included in student tuition.
For students opposed to abortion who can afford only the university health insurance, the policy allows them to remove the abortion option from their student account. But if students choose to remove their abortion coverage, their premium remains the same.
Unless students provide proof of private insurance, they automatically are enrolled in the campus insurance program, under insurance provider Pearce and Pearce.
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