Students enrolled in Cardinal Care will experience higher premiums due to a new insurance provider this year, the University announced in July.
The University shifted insurance carriers from Aetna Student Health to Wellfleet Student for the 2025-26 academic year, a transition that will cost students $612 more each year, according to details released by Vaden Health Services.
In 2024, nearly 72% of graduate students and 34% of undergraduate students enrolled in Cardinal Care, a report from The Daily found.
“The University put the [insurance] program out to competitive bid in an effort to obtain the best possible services at the best possible price,” University spokesperson Luisa Rapport wrote in an email to The Daily.
The new insurance program switched from an Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO) plan to a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan. In exchange for higher premiums, students should receive access to a wider network of providers.
Some students expressed concern over the change.
“Cardinal Care as it functioned last year worked well for me, with decent copayments on eyewear and amazing copayments on therapy options,” Sinmi Sowande ’28 wrote to The Daily. “I’d be concerned if these benefits went down, or previous doctors and professionals became inaccessible with a change in provider.”
The change will also remove Aetna’s tiered structure for standardized in-network providers, which offered lower copays for preferred in-network providers. Instead, students will pay standard copays for providers in the Blue Shield of California PPO network within California and the Cigna PPO network outside the state.
“The plan broadens reach but removes the special carve-out for Stanford Health Care,” Pre-Medical Association student leader Aman Dillon ’27 wrote in an email to The Daily. “The new referral requirement for specialists means more gatekeeping, and whether that feels like ‘streamlined coordination’ or ‘red tape’ will shape students’ first impressions.”
Wellfleet plans to honor students’ authorization from their previous Cardinal Care plan until it expires or for six months, according to an announcement in the Vaden Health Services Portal.