The University announced Tuesday that students enrolled in the Aetna Student Health plan are now allowed to add either same- or opposite-sex domestic partners to their plans.
The faculty and staff health insurance plan will not provide the same benefits due to strict state laws, Student Affairs spokesperson Virginia Carter said.
“The student plan and the faculty plan are administered totally differently — they are both through Aetna, but are completely different plans,” Carter said. “Under state law, the benefit of domestic partnership is not available for the staff plan. […T]here are very strict laws when it comes to health care.”
Carter said she assumed the University afforded the benefit to students as soon as it discovered the option was available.
Graduate teaching assistants — whose insurance the University can subsidize — will also benefit from the change. Because graduate teaching assistants are considered students, they fall under the student health plan.
Fourth-year College student Blake Calhoun, chair of the minority rights coalition, said she believes the new policy is a step in the right direction for the University’s LGBTQ population, and spoke favorably of the community’s relationship with the administration overall.
“In my nearly four years here, I’ve found U.Va. to be incredibly accepting of LGBTQ students and initiatives; every member of administration that I have interacted with in regards to LGBTQ-centric initiatives has been more than willing to assist,” Calhoun said in an email. “U.Va. doesn't get enough credit for being a leader amongst public universities in the realm of LGBTQ student life and scholarship.”
Calhoun said declaring victory is premature, however, so long as faculty and staff are excluded from these same benefits.
“It is imperative that we as students continue to highlight domestic partner benefits for faculty and staff while also offering the administration what support we can provide,” Calhoun said. “I'm confident that we will continue to do so.”
The University requires all students have health insurance upon entering school. It offers the Aetna Student Health plan to students who either don’t have health insurance or want to consider other policies.
The University does not cover the cost of the health insurance plan, giving students responsibility for paying the premium in full. The annual cost of enrolling a spouse on a student health plan is an additional $3,678.
Carter said the change will make health care accessible to many who may not have had it before.
“Health insurance is a good thing, and we want to make sure as many people have it as possible,” Carter said.
Carter said the University is unable to estimate the number of students who will take advantage of the change in policy because there no record is kept of the number of students with domestic partners.
Carter did add that she expects more graduate students than undergraduate students to take advantage of the change.
University students are allowed to enroll their spouses through Oct. 20 by paper application available at Elson Student Health Center.
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