Bill would give extra health coverage to visiting scholars

? The Kansas Senate on Tuesday gave first-round approval to a bill that would prevent more than 200 visiting scholars who work as university researchers or instructors in the state from losing their visas because their jobs no longer provide them with adequate health insurance.

The problem is the result of a recent change in the State Employee Health Plan, which is available to all full-time employees of the state, including university employees.

The change, which was effective Jan. 1, increased the minimum deductible for an individual to $1,000 a year. That was part of an effort to reduce health care costs to the state by moving employees into less expensive, high-deductible plans.

The problem, according to state officials, is that under federal law, visiting scholars who are in the United States under the “J-1 Visa” program must have health coverage with deductibles no higher than $500.

Senate Bill 110 would authorize the Kansas Board of Regents to provide supplemental coverage for those individuals, either through a self-funded plan or a plan purchased from another insurer, that would cover the additional $500 deductible.

According to U.S. State Department information, as of 2015, there were 1,979 people in the state of Kansas holding J-1 visas, including 259 who were classified as professors and research scholars.

State budget officials, though, estimate that there are now only about 218 such researchers and faculty in Kansas, and the additional cost of providing them with an extra $500 of coverage was estimated at $108,000. Officials said that cost would be paid out of existing university funds.

Officials at the University of Kansas were not immediately able to say how many people on the Lawrence campus would be affected by the bill.