The state Board of Education will again consider changes to its policy requiring that full-time public college and university students have health insurance, in a special meeting today that starts at 1 p.m. The Lewiston Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/QfQpB4) that the board took up the issue in April, rejecting a request by some schools to suspend the rule for a year because of sharp increases in insurance premiums; if the board reverses course, students wouldn't be freed from the requirement until next fall because health care contracts for the current year are already in place. Some of Idaho's universities sought to suspend the requirement last year, the paper reports, as insurance premiums spiked by as much as 46 percent with fewer students opting for school policies and instead remaining on their parent's insurance plans.

Board spokeswoman Marilyn Whitney told the Associated Press that the changes under consideration would remove the portion of the board's policy that requires students who don't have health insurance to purchase a policy through their school, and eliminate the part of the policy that requires students who are already insured to have a policy that is equivalent to the coverage they would receive through their respective university or college; the requirement for all students to have health insurance would remain in place.

For those who want to listen in, the teleconference number for the special board meeting is (877) 807-5706, and the public participant code is 556261. The matter is the second of two items on the agenda; you can read the proposed policy changes here.