Students should beware that they cannot purchase health insurance in the summer if they cancel their spring insurance policy.

Health insurance policymakers are extending spring coverage through summer semester; therefore they cannot purchase summer insurance separately.

These steps were taken to fill health plan loopholes created by a pre-existing condition clause.

A pre-existing condition is any medical condition that a student contracts prior to the purchase of university insurance coverage for a given semester. The pre-existing condition clause prohibits an individual for making a claim on such conditions for at least 12 months.

To illustrate this, suppose a student purchases health insurance for the fall but not for the preceding summer. If the student breaks his leg during the summer, he cannot receive insurance payments for his broken leg during the fall semester. The leg was broken before the fall plan went into effect and therefore constitutes a pre-existing condition.

Before the change, students had to purchase spring and summer insurance separately. The problem surfaces when students contract illnesses while they’re covered in the spring, but fail to purchase insurance for the summer. When the student returns in the fall, the summer lapse in coverage changes the status of a formerly treatable condition to a pre-existing one, prohibiting treatment for another year.

The deadline to purchase or cancel insurance is Jan. 29 for spring and summer. Regina Crosby, student health insurance manager, said graduates who have regularly canceled their insurance in the past might want to reconsider before doing it this spring.

“We advise May graduates not to cancel their spring insurance, because they will also lose their coverage in the summer,” Crosby said. “After graduation, most family policies stop offering coverage,” she said.

She noted that graduates still looking for employment during the summer will have a gap in coverage that was previously offset by the availability of separate university-provided summer coverage. As of Jan. 29, this is no longer an option.

Crosby said that last year’s fee increase was needed to make this change feasible. However, other coverage modifications could take effect if NIU decides to switch insurance packages.

“We’re preparing bids from Blue Cross, and they are going to give us a quote,” Crosby said.”Depending on what they offer, there might be some modifications.”