Every month, I will give you all the information you need to know about a topic making national or global headlines to help you break out of your campus bubble. First up: healthcare reform.
If you have read the newspaper or scrolled a news page on the Internet recently, I’m sure you’ve seen a headline or two (or twenty) about healthcare reform, especially after President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9. But how much do you really know?
I’d bet you didn’t know that over 45 million people in the US are uninsured, while people age 19-29 are the fastest-growing group among people who lack health insurance. 20% of college students are uninsured in the United States.
As students, especially seniors like me gearing up for embarkation into the real word, it is important to know the basic facts, and especially how the issue affects us. Read on for a quick lesson in the nuts and bolts of healthcare in the US, and how it all stands to change.
The Basics:
Earlier this year, five committees were asked to develop bills on health care reform. Without getting too into the politics of it all, a quick breakdown: the main issues at hand are expanding coverage for people who can’t afford health insurance, while reforming the market of health insurance providers, whose costs have spiraled out of control.
The politicians on the left would like to see a government health system like Canada’s, which would restrict the private insurance companies, while Republicans think that everyone should buy their own insurance. With immense costs attached to these plans, it’s no surprise that it has taken the entire summer to make even a little headway. Like all of us, Congress needs a break too, and takes the month of August off for recess, which left the healthcare debate on hold. This meant that Obama’s goal of both the House and Senate agreeing on legislation before August fell short.
With Congress back in session, the road to reform can now resume construction. In last week’s speech, President Obama proposed a plan that “will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government.”
In this plan, insurance companies would be unable to deny coverage for preexisting conditions, and monetary caps on annual coverage would be removed. He proposed a plan to provide individuals and businesses with more coverage options, which would hopefully lower prices due to increased competition. Additionally, all Americans would be required to carry health insurance.
How you will be affected:
The current reforms circulating in Congress bear direct impact on college students and other twenty-somethings. If the legislation gets approved, we would have to buy the same government-chosen healthcare packages as our grandparents’ generation — yes, that means that you, who maybe goes to an eye doctor, gynecologist, general practitioner and dentist annually will be paying the same amount as people over 65 whose lives are dictated by a seemingly endless number of doctors visits. Essentially, what you would be paying would subsidize their coverage.
Currently, students can only be under their parents’ insurance until they turn 23. For all of you studying to be doctors or lawyers, this means that you will be uninsured for those later years of your education. The American College Health Association has proposed that extending this cutoff until age 25 would be “beneficial and ensure our ability to provide compensated care for these students, especially as more of them take longer to complete their coursework.”
Those most affected: People with low-income, elderly, college students and recent graduates, children, and wealthy families — in short, everyone!
The Bottom Line: Regardless of your political beliefs, the current discussions regarding reform fall into three areas: current exorbitant costs of insurance, public coverage as an option for everyone, and how this $900 billion dollar reform (that’s 900,000,000,000!) should be paid for.
If you missed Obama’s speech, read the full text here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/us/politics/10obama.text.html?pagewant…
For more information on healthcare reform relating to college students, check out the American College Health Association: http://www.acha.org/College_Health_and_Health_Care_Reform.pdf.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/health/policy/01health.html?pagewanted…
http://health.usnews.com/blogs/heart-to-heart/2009/08/26/health-reform-l…
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf