Student health insurance will remain $407 a year and have the same benefits next year but will be handled by a new company, the university’s insurance agent said Monday.

Don Southard, UW-Eau Claire’s insurance agent of record, told Student Senate on Monday that the campus student health insurance program will transfer from its current provider, Reliastar, to Columbia Mutual Life Insurance Company next year.

Reliastar decided to no longer write student life insurance programs, Southard said.

Southard said about 500 students, or 5 percent, of the Eau Claire student body use the insurance program.

Eau Claire’s student insurance rate of $407 a year is the lowest in the UW System, Southard said. The only other UW campus with a rate under $690 is UW-Stout, which is about $450 a year, he said.

“We really have the best insurance policy in Wisconsin,” said senator Erin Brandt, who ended her Senate career Monday.

The past year has been difficult, Southard said, due to a group of a few UW campuses wanting a universal insurance program for the UW System.

The group calls the program the University of Wisconsin System Medical Coverage.

The group of UW campuses tried this past year – when the program didn’t work at the schools – to mandate a universal insurance rate for all UW campuses, Southard said.

System officials ignored the idea, he said.

The proposed program, which would offer rates more than $700, Southard said, would have penalized Eau Claire students.