If passed, the health care reform bill might affect students’ access to parental plans, employment and individual rates or an uninsured tax if VCU chooses to mandate insurance coverage.
According to Czarnecki, there are ways to make health care affordable to those who think otherwise.
“Use financial aid to pay the premium,” Czarnecki said. “Add it into your cost of living.”
According to ProPublica, an independent nonprofit newsroom, students who choose to remain uninsured would be forced to pay an uninsured tax of $750 a year unless the student opts for an individual insurance plan or purchases a university-sponsored plan.
“That’s pretty close to the cost,” Czarnecki said. “It would make more sense to pay for the insurance than pay the (tax).”
According to health economist and senior fellow for The National Center for Policy Analysis, Devon Herrick, proposals for the bill would attempt to overcharge young individuals’ rates to cost-subsidize older individuals’ rates. In the individual market, where many students get coverage, rates for people with pre-existing conditions, who tend to be older, would get lower premiums.
Under the existing proposals, underrides for pre-existing conditions would not be permitted while limited adjustments for age would be allowed.
“A young person – maybe 20 or 22 – would be charged half of what someone 60 years old would be charged,” Herrick said. “Of course if you don’t pay it, there’d be a fine . What (some Congress members) are talking about now is 2.5 percent of your income.”
The figures remain speculative, Herrick said. The House passed a bill, yet, the Senate continues to work toward one consolidated bill.
“We know what (some Congress members) want to do,” Herrick said. “What they want to do is have tight banding for age, no underriding for (pre-existing conditions) and have some type of individual mandate where you would be required to have coverage.”
Herrick said how the individual mandate might affect students is uncertain. The policy could be implemented through an employer mandate.
“Obviously (if) you’re a full-time student it may not affect you,” Herrick said, “But it might make it harder to get that part-time job if an employer sees the chance that they might have to pay thousands of dollars more in health coverage or a fine for someone working part-time.”
According to Herrick, the amount of the United States economy spent on heath care has tripled during the past 50 years. Most health economists look at the health care proposals and do not see any cost containment, which suggests the portion of the nation’s economy dedicated to health care likely will continue to rise.
“We know the demand for health care workers is growing and will grow within the plight,” Herrick said.
Herrick said many students entering the work force will receive employee-sponsored coverage. The reform would affect employers in different ways. Employers of high-income workers would not be affected the same way as employers of low-income workers or employers of both low and high-income workers.
If the bill becomes law, Czarnecki said she encourages students to look at their parents’ plans before deciding. She also said to research into whether plans can go out of state, and if the plan covers pre-existing conditions or other special needs.
“(Right now) the majority of students enrolled in a school-sponsored plan find it’s a better deal than their parent’s plans,” Czarnecki said.