Students health coverage may soon be impacted if Republicans are successful at repealing ObamaCare (also known as the Affordable Care Act), since it allows individuals under the age of 26 to stay on their parent’s health plan. Speaker Paul Ryan presented a new policy brief for the Obamacare repeal plan last Thursday, Feb. 16.
During its initial introduction, Obamacare received tremendous backlash, and a 2014 MU poll showed that 49 percent of New Jerseyans opposed the act.
Patrick Murray, Director of the MU Polling Institute, said that most backlash was a result of glitches with the website that made a bad first impression. Despite the initial hiccups however, Obamacare has since received warmer reviews.
President Donald Trump, along with other leaders in Congress, have vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare with something “terrific.” He has called the ObamaCare a “disaster” and has criticized its ineffectiveness.
Dubbed on social media as “TrumpCare,” the President has largely kept his ultimate health care plan shrouded in mystery, and it is unclear what the final form will look like.
The provision of Obamacare that allows students to stay on their parents insurance has come in handy for a number of persons navigating through college, including Jake Marciniak, a junior business student. He said that the provision is one of the main issues that would arise for college students with a repeal, because not a lot of college students are well versed in the health insurance marketplace.
“I know that if you were to tell me to go out and find an insurance plan for myself, I would be very hesitant and confused on what I was doing. Basically, what Obamacare was proposed to do, whether or not it was one-hundred percent perfectly implemented, was to create widespread availability of health care,” said Marciniak.
A majority of University students have entry-level, and part-time jobs, and may not be able to afford their own plan or a campus-offered plan that may have high copays and out of pocket costs asserts Marciniak.
“With this in mind, the ability to stay on our parents’ health insurance plan has been an extremely beneficial aspect of Obamacare and should be a statute that stays in place,” said Marciniak. “This statute was talked about very highly during the early moves to repeal, but it is unclear as to how the Trump administration plans to keep the statute in whatever it is they are proposing as the replacement of Obamacare.”
Fortunately, many Republicans claim that they’d like to keep this provision when they replace Obamacare. President-elect Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he would “very much” like this health right.
Dr. Kevin Dooley, an associate professor of political science, said, “The main issue for college students, primarily those age 18-24, is that if Obamacare gets repealed, that protection will not exist,” said Dooley. “However, most people calling for a repeal are not necessarily calling to repeal that specific provision.”
According to a recent Gallup poll, Obamacare has helped a great number of individuals attain healthcare. Nearly 30 million Americans have gotten health insurance under Obamacare, and the rate of uninsured adults has dropped to 12.3 percent. The annual number of people who would be uninsured over the next decade if not for ObamCare has also risen from 24 to 27 million.
Most pundits agree that there are both pros and cons of Obamacare. Austin Skelton, a junior political science student and president of the Student Government Association, noted that students will be one of the main demographics impacted by a repeal of Obamacare. “If Trump is successful in repealing Obamacare that means that health insurance for low-income college students will be more expensive and less accessible,” said Skelton.
With regard to rising health care costs, Trump has proposed expanding tax-free health savings accounts, selling across state lines, and giving tax credits to those who help affordability.
Skelton asserts that a pro from repealing Obamacare involves student work. He said, “Those who are employed through federal work study or by the University in general, would no longer be limited to working 30 hours a week. This means that employers don’t have to worry about providing insurance to student employees and those student workers can make more money each week.”
IMAGE TAKEN from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinion/sundayl
IMAGE TAKEN from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinion/sundayl
