As participants in the 2016 White House Healthy Campus Challenge, the University Health Center held Open Enrollment Open House sessions for students on Monday, Nov. 14 and Tuesday, Nov. 15. The sessions informed attendees about the different types of health insurance available to students.

Patient Support Specialist and Certified Application Counselor Supervisor Isela Meza and fellow People’s Health Center representative Rebecca Chandler discussed insurance from the Health Insurance Marketplace and the People Health’s Center. The People’s Health Center is an integrated health center that provides behavioral, primary and dental care. The Affordable Care Act funds both the Health Insurance Marketplace and the People’s Health Center.

Cindi Pickinpaugh, a patient financial counselor with the University Health Center, discussed StudentBlue health insurance, a plan available to all students taking at least three credit hours and their spouses and dependents. The insurance plan covers many health care services at the University Health Center with no additional fees. Under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield umbrella, StudentBlue also provides a form of coverage for other health care services throughout the United States.

The sessions also helped educate students who already pay student insurance fees about their plans.

“I paid the insurance fees in August and I didn’t know how [the plan] worked, so I attended to get more detail [on the plan],” said junior Yifang Luo.

Open enrollment for StudentBlue health insurance closes on Feb. 6, 2017 at midnight, and open enrollment for the Health Insurance Marketplace ends on Jan. 31, 2017.