The University of Minnesota is conducting an extensive survey on graduate student health care and insurance issues. All graduate students are being asked to participate. The survey was developed by the Council of Graduate Students in consultation with Stephen Beckley, a health care consultant. Assistance was provided by members of the Graduate Assistant Health Insurance Committee.

This survey should take only 10-15 minutes to complete.  All survey data will be kept confidential.  You will be asked for your U of M ID number only in order to access the survey.   Your ID number is not linked to any survey data.  Once you have accessed the survey, you will not be able to access it again.  The deadline for participation in the survey is on March 10, 2000, but we would appreciate your response as soon as possible.  It is extremely important that we get a high response rate, so that the results will be truly representative.  Please help us to achieve this goal by reminding all graduate students to take the survey, regardless of their current insurance situation.

To answer some questions in the survey, you should understand that there are two separate student health insurance programs provided by the University of Minnesota: (1) the Graduate Assistant health insurance plan, which is a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) provided by the Araz Group (provided as a benefit to Graduate Assistants); and (2) a traditional Student Health Insurance Program (SHIP) which is available to undergraduate and graduate students (which can be purchased at the time of registration).  To read a summary description of both insurance programs,  click here.  You may also click here to review a brief history of the health insurance program for Graduate Assistants. 

The University has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), with proposals due on March 6.  The RFP asks various health care providers to submit a health insurance plan that would best meet the needs detailed in the document.  The data from this survey will assist the Graduate Assistant Health Insurance Committee in selecting the most appropriate proposal. Please note:  (1) the RFP mandates inclusion of optional dependent coverage; and (2) dental care is under a separate contract, and is not up for renewal at this time.

Thank you for participating in this important survey about the future of health care and health insurance for graduate students.  Best wishes for success in your graduate studies.

Michael D. Pawson
President, Council of Graduate Students

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