Senator: Mizzou did the right thing for its students
WASHINGTON – After U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill urged University of Missouri and federal officials to swiftly resolve issues in the University’s health insurance coverage that had effectively prevented graduate teaching assistants from obtaining promised health insurance subsidies, school officials announced today that they had reversed course and would provide health insurance subsidies to eligible graduate students.
“As a proud Mizzou alum, I’m pleased the university was able to act quickly to correct this mistake and ensure that their graduate students will continue to have access to quality, affordable health insurance,” McCaskill said. “However it’s clear from the confusion over the last few days that a long-term policy is needed to provide certainty to these students.”
McCaskill yesterday spoke by phone with University of Missouri Chancellor Bowen Loftin to discuss potential solutions for the school’s handling of the issue and the lack of timely communication with students who would no longer receive their healthcare subsidy. The IRS guidance on the Affordable Care Act, which could result in fines on the University for offering noncompliant subsidies to its graduate students, was issued in September 2013. However, the University only told the graduate students about its intention to end healthcare subsidies on Friday, August 14, 2015, two years after the IRS guidance was released.
University of Missouri officials announced today that they would, “defer implementation of its decision regarding graduate student health insurance. As a result, the university will pay for health insurance for eligible graduate students.”
