Health Insurance

Dakota Wesleyan University requires that all full time students carrying 12 or more credit hours must have a billable major medical insurance policy. If you do not have your own private policy that will provide coverage in Mitchell, S.D., you MUST purchase a major medical policy from Student Assurance Services, which is offered through the university. If you are a student athlete, you are required to carry private medical insurance.
  

2007-08 Student Assurance brochure

Student Accident and Sickness Plan Enrollment Form

DWU advises that all students planning to attend college, whether or not they live in South Dakota, call their insurance agent to notify them that they will be attending college at Dakota Wesleyan University located in Mitchell, South Dakota. You must certify that your present private insurance will pay for expenses incurred in this service area. You will also need to know what the notification steps are to follow in order to notify your insurance carrier if health care is necessary, and to ensure that coverage will be provided. Depending on the type of insurance you have, you may find out that your insurance will not cover outside of a certain service area. In this event, you are required to discuss your insurance needs with your agent and implement appropriate medical coverage, and/or contact the athletic department, the campus nurse, or our insurance agent, John M. Rice for more information on private insurance policies that you can purchase.

Non Student-athletes | Student-athletes

If you have any questions please contact:

Donna Gerlach, RN
Campus Health Nurse
Phone: (605) 995-2957
E-mail: dogerlac@dwu.edu

Non Student-athletes      [top of page]
Dakota Wesleyan University requires that all full-time students carrying 12 or more credit hours must have a billable major medical insurance policy. If you do not have a permanent policy under your parent(s), spouse, employment or private pay that provides coverage in Mitchell, S.D., you must purchase the major medical policy that DWU offers from Student Assurance Services, underwritten by Columbian Life. Students may purchase this policy during finalization at the beginning of each semester. The cost of this policy at the August finalization for the 2006-07 year is $584 annually. Students starting at the 2007 spring semester will be charged $395 for coverage from Jan. 1 through the start of the fall semester. This policy is put in place so that in the event of an unexpected illness or injury, the student would not be faced with the raw cost of medical bills plus the expense of tuition.

All students who have private insurance (other than the Student Assurance) already in place should call their insurance agents to notify them that they will be going to college at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D. Students must certify that their current private insurance company will pay for expenses incurred in DWU’s service area. Students will also need to know the notification steps to follow when notifying an insurance carrier that health care is necessary. This will help to ensure that coverage will be provided. If a non student-athlete’s insurance company does not provide coverage in the Mitchell, S.D. coverage area, students are required to discuss insurance needs with their agent and implement appropriate medical coverage, or take out the Student Assurance policy offered through DWU as explained above. If you would like more information contact Donna Gerlach, RN, campus nurse by email at dogerlac@dwu.edu or call (605) 995-2950 for more information.

Student-athletes      [top of page]
Dakota Wesleyan University requires that all student-athletes participating in intercollegiate sports maintain a permanent, private major medical insurance policy through parent(s), spouse, employee benefit or private policy. In the event of an injury, the private insurance company will be billed by the medical providers. No short term policies will be accepted.

DWU also maintains an intercollegiate sports coverage policy through Student Assurance Services. This policy has a $1000 diminishing deductible for all student-athletes. This means the student-athlete will be responsible for the first $1000 of medical costs, which could either be paid by the athlete’s private billable insurance (depending on the deductible of the private policy), or be an out-of-pocket expense for the student-athlete (the out-of-pocket expense would apply toward the private insurance deductible and the intercollegiate sport policy’s diminishing deductible). After the intercollegiate deductible of $1000 has been satisfied, the sports coverage policy will be billed once the primary insurance has been processed. This will help defray the cost of medical attention needed due to an injury sustained while participating in intercollegiate athletics that is not covered by a student’s athlete’s primary coverage (i.e. deductibles, co-pays). The athletic policy provided by DWU through Student Assurance Services will only be billed after the athlete’s primary insurance has been billed and an explanation of benefits has been received. It is the student-athlete’s responsibility to inform his or her medical provider(s) of the intercollegiate coverage benefit provided by DWU and to initiate the claims process.

If the student-athlete allows his or her primary insurance coverage to lapse during the school year, the student has broken policy and will be responsible for 100 percent of the incurred costs.

DWU advises that all student-athletes who have permanent private insurance already in place call their insurance agents to notify them that they will be going to college at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D. Students must certify that their current private insurance company will pay for expenses incurred in DWU's service area. Student-athletes will also need to know the notification steps to follow when notifying an insurance carrier that health care is necessary. This will help to ensure that coverage will be provided. If a student-athlete's insurance company does not provide coverage in the Mitchell, S.D. area, students are required to discuss insurance needs with their agent and implement appropriate medical coverage. If you need more information on obtaining a long term private insurance policy contact the head athletic trainer, Jerod Guthmiller at jaquthmi@dwu.edu or (605) 995-2144, or Donna Gerlach, campus nurse at dogerlac@dwu.edu , or (605) 995-2957.