Young adults will have the option to stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until they are 26, among other changes that will affect students, after President Barack Obama signed into law the Health Care Reform bill on March 23.

By 2014, no one will be turned away from insurance plans for pre-existing medical conditions or for becoming sick or disabled, according to a New York Times article. This includes students as well.

In addition to the additional time children can remain under their parents’ health insurance plan, colleges and universities can continue to use their current health insurance plans for students, regardless of whether the plan fits the requirements of the new bill. Also under the bill, people who do not have health insurance by 2014 will face a penalty.

All dependents can now remain under their parents’ health care plan until age 26. Before the bill, states decided when children were removed from their parents’ insurance, usually at age 23 or upon college graduation. Under the new legislation, adult children who receive insurance from their employers cannot remain on their parents insurance, regardless of their age.

Students independent of their parents’ health care plan before age 26 or uninsured have multiple options ahead of them.

According to the bill, Section 1560(c) states, “Nothing in this title (or an amendment made by this title) shall be construed to prohibit an institution of higher education from offering a student health insurance plan.”

Syracuse University’s College Democrats and College Republicans have differing opinions on the change to the age at which adult children are allowed to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans.

“Students that do have health care are going to be covered until they’re 26, which is great for insurance companies (but) terrible for parents because they’ll be paying so much more,” said Dan Fitzpatrick, president of SU’s College Republicans.

Keeping dependent students on their parents’ health care plan for a longer period of time will give parents less income to help their kids financially, he said.

Fitzpatrick also said he thought requiring students to get health care by law is against the 10th Amendment, which says anything not in the Constitution is the right of the states to decide, and he does not see any good coming from it.

Kyle Rapone, the president of the College Democrats, said even though parents would have to pay more, hopefully students will help their parents pay for health care once they have a decent-paying job. But if their employer does offer health insurance, students will no longer remain on their parent’s insurance.

“To be honest, when a child is under their parents’ health care plan, typically it’s a lot less expensive than if a child is on their own,” he said.

Students will also have the option of using the health insurance plan offered by SU Health Services, which was offered prior to the health insurance bill. Health Services provides the option for students through Aetna Life Insurance Company. SU offered this because prior to the Health Care Reform bill, many health care plans did not provide health insurance once a dependent is a certain age, married, financially independent or living away from home, according to Health Services’ website.

As stated by the bill, universities, including SU, will be able to continue providing students with insurance plans even though they are not individual plans or employee-based group plans, as the bill requires. Health Services could not be reached for comment regarding any changes to SU’s insurance plan.

If an employer does not provide health care coverage, a student independent of his or her parents’ health care with an income of less than $14,000 qualifies for Medicaid health care coverage, according to an article from the New York Times. If a student’s employer offers health insurance but cannot afford to buy the plan, he or she can file for exemption in order to avoid penalties for not having health care.

If independent students choose not to buy coverage by 2014, either through the school or through employer-sponsored coverage, there will be a penalty of $95 or 1 percent of their income, whichever is more, as stated in Sec. 5000A(3)(c). The penalty will continue to increase each year.

Published on March 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Laurence: lgleveil@syr.edu | @lgleveille