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Using Vanderbilt’s Student Health Insurance Plan to Unpack the Business of Health Insurance

Using Vanderbilt’s Student Health Insurance Plan to Unpack the Business of Health Insurance

peterspiro via iStockPhoto Introduction            Vanderbilt University requires its students to maintain health insurance coverage throughout their education. Students can enroll in Vanderbilt’s Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) if they do not have personal health insurance or if they prefer the SHIP to their current insurance. The healthcare industry is notoriously complicated, containing a web of insurers, providers, hospital networks, drug manufacturers, and pharmacies to administer all aspects of patient care. Using Vanderbilt’s SHIP as an example, this article will guide students through the structure of health insurance and the entities influencing it. Fees and Benefits To maintain health insurance,…
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Research at Vanderbilt: The Money behind the Innovation

Research at Vanderbilt: The Money behind the Innovation

Totojang via iStockPhoto At Vanderbilt, students are constantly surrounded by the effects of research funding. From posters advertising new breakthroughs, emails detailing newsworthy projects, or even the paragraph-long official titles of professors. The research ecosystem of elite universities like Vanderbilt is constantly publicized. At innovative universities like Vanderbilt, research is a business. With national academic research expenditures totaling more than $75 billion, universities race to obtain maximum funding from as many sources as possible. Research success at universities attracts both students and faculty. Research experience is a critical component of many graduate applications, such as those for medical school and…
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Realtor Compensation Gets Overhauled: How Does It Affect Nashville?

Realtor Compensation Gets Overhauled: How Does It Affect Nashville?

Feverpitched via iStockPhoto For decades, the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a trade association with over 1.3 million members, has established guidelines for structuring compensation for realtors representing homebuyers and sellers during most home sales in the United States, However, on August 17th, 2024, new NAR practices went into effect following a settlement between the NAR and a class of plaintiffs across the United States. In the antitrust lawsuit, plaintiffs asserted that the NAR’s guidelines for compensating realtors were anticompetitive and increased home prices through compensation structures that shared commissions between the realtors of homebuyers and home sellers.  How have…
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