Nearly 5,000 University of Idaho students received unexpected emails regarding their spring 2026 health insurance coverage because of a recent system update, according to school officials. While the system errors have been addressed, the university recommends that students check their insurance status in MyUI to ensure they have the correct coverage.
UI, in compliance with the Affordable Care Act, must verify that eligible students – defined as full-time for undergraduate, graduate and law students, student athletes taking one or more credits and all international students – have sufficient insurance coverage. Each semester, students must submit a waiver that includes their health insurance coverage information, or they will automatically be enrolled in the university’s Student Health Insurance Program. The deadline to submit a waiver for the spring semester was Jan. 14.
“This requirement is designed to ensure that students who fall under these categories have access to essential medical care without facing significant financial hardship and are protected from gaps in coverage, as college-aged adults are among the most uninsured and underinsured populations,” Anita Packwood, operations manager at the Vandal Health Clinic, wrote in an email to The Argonaut.
On Jan. 19, students who had submitted waivers for SHIP received an email saying they had been enrolled in the program automatically when the system incorrectly identified a pending waiver as a rejected one.
On Jan. 22, another email was sent to roughly 5,000 SHIP-eligible students, saying they had not completed the insurance submission requirement. It was intended only for those who had not yet begun an audit or enrolled in SHIP but was received by students already enrolled in SHIP, or with pending audits, adding to the confusion.
“Once the error surfaced, the administration quickly investigated, identified the cause within the new system workflow, and implemented a fix,” Packwood said.
Students also may have received emails about a negative balance on their student account and potential late fees because of the $1,206 SHIP fee.
Packwood said that any late fees caused solely by pending SHIP charges will be automatically waived once the audit is processed, and no action or appeal is required by the student. Tuition and other fees can be paid by subtracting the SHIP cost from the total balance.
An email from the Dean of Students, Blaine Eckles and Packwood was sent to all students on Jan. 26 in response to the error.
“This occurred as the university implemented a new process linking approved insurance information to the billing system,” Eckles wrote.
The issue has been corrected and the new system will improve processing moving forward despite the momentary confusion, according to Eckles.
Some students affected by this issue reported that, around Jan. 24, they had received an email stating that their audit had been processed. Many students also reported noticeably longer processing times for waivers this semester compared to previous semesters.
Health insurance waivers can take up to 10 business days to process, meaning that students who submitted the audit on time should have the charge drop from their account by Jan. 29.
Students who are unsure whether their waiver was successfully submitted or approved can contact the SHIP office at [email protected] for direct assistance.
Joshua Reisenfeld can be reached at [email protected].