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Cowell teams with local hospital Pacific’s on-campus health center, the Wellness Center, has undergone a major face lift. Two major changes took place this semester: one, the school’s insurance provider was changed from Mega Life to Chickering; and two, the Wellness Center teamed up with local St. Joseph’s Hospital. Both of these changes should greatly improve the quality of health care on campus. The new insurance covers more and is much more user friendly. It includes many online options that increase efficiency and decrease unnecessary waits.
 The new partnership with St. Joseph’s Hospital will increase the number of physicians on hand at the Wellness Center as well as allow Wellness Center physicians to go with a student to St. Josephs if needed and be a part of their follow up care. A pod of four physicians will spend six hours a week at the Wellness Center.
Kathy Hunter, CRNP, FNP, and director of health services for the University of the Pacific, said “if [students] need to go to the operating room, I can go with them. If they need to go to the ER, I can go with them instead of sending them over blindly. This should be a comfort to students who will need off campus treatment in the future. Previously, if a student needed off campus treatment, the student was out of the Wellness Center’s hands. This could leave them confused or without the help that they needed during recovery.
The change from Mega Life to Chickering Insurance, a part of Etna, will provide a few positive changes and a price increase. The price will go up from $380 a year to $448, or $289 a semester. However, Kathy Hunter explained that, “Mega Life would have gone up anyway at the new year so the difference isn’t that huge.”
However, this price increase comes with perks. One example is the highly discussed new Human Papillona Virus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil, will be completely covered by this new insurance. Kathy Hunter encourages “students to check with their insurance to see if this is covered. It is quickly becoming a standard but not all insurances cover it yet.”
Student athletes will be now covered when they travel, something they were not with Mega Life.
Students will now have their own insurance ID. In the past if students went to an off campus pharmacy they paid full price for their pharmaceuticals and then put in a claim to get their money back. Now students will be able to go to the pharmacy and show their ID card and only have to pay their 10 or 15 dollar co-pay. Etna will process the claim for the rest.
Both of these changes should serve as positive additions to students’ on campus health care.
Chickering’s online benefits will offer students a clear format to compare their own current insurance with the school’s. This will help them decide which has the better coverage and which is right for them. If you decide to stick with your own health care provider then you can waive the campus insurance online, or if the opposite is true you can sign up for Chickering right there and then. With this new waver system the Wellness Center hopes to avoid the registration holds that agitated many students last fall.
While you had to give proof of insurance in the past by going to the Wellness Center, you will now be able to do this online.
Chickering also offers the addition of easy and reliable referrals. Dr. Hunter explained that “if you are in San Francisco and you need to go to the doctor you can call and the Wellness Center can do a referral right online, and then when Etna looks they will see that there was a referral and make the charges accordingly. It will be a lot faster and more efficient.”
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