Here is something college students probably didn’t want to learn on their way back to school: thanks to ObamaCare, many may soon lose their school-sponsored health care plan. An editorial from the
Wall Street Journal provides the details on why some college students risk losing their current health care plan:
 |
Big Foot on Campus
Why colleges want a waiver from ObamaCare.
In the movie "Animal House," the hilariously loathsome Dean Wormer announces a pointless campus crackdown with the classic line, "The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me." Democrats seem to have had a similar inspiration and targeted student health insurance in ObamaCare.
Along comes word that the bill "could make it impossible for colleges and universities to continue to offer student health plans." That's how the American Council on Education and a dozen other higher-ed lobbies put it in a recent letter to the Obama Administration, warning that the insurance coverage they offer may get junked by ObamaCare's decrees.
Between 4.5 million to 5.5 million students annually are insured by short-term plans sponsored by their schools, which are tailored to upperclassman who have aged out of their parents' coverage or to international and graduate students. These plans are very low cost because the benefits are designed for generally healthy young people and often organized around campus health services and academic medical centers.
All of which means these plans aren't likely to qualify under ObamaCare's "minimal essential coverage" rules that mandate rich benefit packages, even if colleges have the flexibility to make exceptions for special needs. And given that insurance must now be sold anytime to everyone, colleges may be required to continue to cover students after they've graduated—leaving this type of coverage unaffordable.
[Click here for the rest of the article.]
Apparently President Obama’s promise – if you like your current health care you can keep it – does not apply to college students with school-sponsored health coverage.
It’s yet another broken promise and one more reason to repeal ObamaCare and start over with commonsense health care solutions that will lower costs and protect individuals’ right to make their own health care decisions.
###
