Graduate students are assured at least one more year of health coverage, interim Chancellor Hank Foley [wrote in an email](http://chancellor.missouri.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/1-19-16-Grad-student-insurance-memo-signed.pdf) to graduate students and faculty Tuesday morning.

In the email, Foley acknowledged shortcomings of the [Task Force for Graduate Health Insurance](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/12/21/graduate-students-not-satisfied-task-forces-soluti/), noting the options presented in their Nov. 16 report each had a “new set of problems and negative consequences” for certain students, especially those with children.

The UM System Board of Curators approved Foley’s plan to provide the same benefits afforded in 2015 to graduate students for another year; however, the level of coverage for 2017 and subsequent years remains uncertain.

MU and other major research universities across the country have “mobilized their congressional delegations” to find a solution to providing graduate students with health insurance after this year, according to the email. The search for a new method of coverage comes after the IRS redefined student health insurance as “individual coverage” under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.

If MU cannot find a way to provide the same coverage in 2017, the university will look for alternative solutions.

“We will continue to ensure that our graduate students have health insurance options competitive with our peer institutions,” Foley said in the email.

_Edited by Taylor Blatchford | tblatchford@themaneater.com_