Four undergraduates failed to appear at the Student Health Insurance Task Force meeting on February 20, costing undergraduates representation on insurance policies.

Amanda Barnard, a member of Graduate Professional Student Council and a representative of the Student Health Advisory Board, said undergraduates have not lost their chance at voicing their opinion completely.

“The voices of the Student Health Insurance Task Force have the potential to pick new insurance plans for the University and without the undergraduates’ opinions policies could end up meeting more needs for graduate students,” she said. “However two undergraduates will be invited to the next meeting to look over the bids so their opinion could still be voiced.”

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Barnard said she could not identify the students who had failed to appear. They represented Undergraduate Student Government.

She said the current insurance policy is self-funded and is not fully Affordable Care Act compliant.

“At some point SIU will have to offer a fully ACA compliant plan. It was not compliant for this academic year and it possibly wont be for next year, so this is why the University is getting bids from companies now,” she said. “The task force will then evaluate those bids based on the needs of the university as well as the students.”

The next meeting for the Student Health Insurance Task Force will be announced after the bids have been received.

Adie Applegate can be reached at aapplegate@dailyegyptian, on twitter @adisonapple or 536-3311 ext.268