Hi, I'm Jim Towey, President of Ave Maria University. Ave Maria University has required
students to carry health insurance since our founding. Most of our students are covered
under their parents' plans but about 15% of our students get health insurance through
a provider we make available to them. The students bear the cost of the program and
the University makes it available to them so that they're properly insured. Recently,
we were informed by our insurance provider that because of the so-called "Obamacare"
legislation, premiums were going up for student policies by 65%. Further, we were told that
the deductible was increasing from $100 to $250 but what makes matters worse is that
Ave Maria was told by the insurance carrier that our benefit plan that excludes coverage
for abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptive services such as sterilization, and other
services, would be covered under the claims submitted to the insurance carrier even if
our benefit plan excluded them. This was very disappointing news and shows that the safe
harbor, so-called, that was offered by the Administration to religiously affiliated groups
like ours, is in fact no harbor. So effective August 15th of this year, Ave Maria University
will no longer provide health insurance plan on our campus nor will we require students
to carry health insurance. We are doing this with reluctance but we are doing this because
we want to keep the costs of college affordable and because we will not compromise our Catholic
identity while doing so. We will work with students who are adversely effected by this
change in health insurance plans and we will continue to be an advocate for excellent,
affordable Catholic higher education. We will not compromise our ideals while we do this.
The mandate of the Federal Government is immoral and we will continue to fight it in federal
court. We're glad that Notre Dame and other institutions are joining us in the courtroom
in this battle. We will prevail because the Constitution and Federal Law supports our
position.
