Across the country, international students are part of the student body. Do they qualify for Obamacare?
In answering your question, I am trying to surmise whether you are a Trump supporter or opponent. The answer is no, they do not receive it. That satisfies your question, but the issue is much larger: how do international students afford and access health care in the U.S.?
The number of international students studying in America has increased for the past ten years. International students studying in the U.S. has grown 85% in the last decade and their numbers exceeded a million for the first time in 2016. According to the Institute of International Education, the total number of overseas students was 1,044,000 last year, up 7% on the previous period.
The majority of colleges require some mandatory insurance to cover health care which is a major concern for foreign students. Essentially, free health care for international students does not exist.
A visit to an emergency room can rapidly accumulate a bill of thousands of dollars. Campus-based student healthcare services offer cheaper options for routine procedures: infection screening, injuries, birth control, etc. If the college medical staff are unable to administer care, you will be transferred to a private hospital at much greater expense.
International students are exempt from ObamaCare, providing they retain the status of ‘non-alien resident’. However, your tax status changes to ‘resident alien’ once you spend more than five years in the country. You are then subject to ObamaCare and must find a compliant health insurance policy. Students needing gap coverage for another year or two of study find themselves purchasing expensive policies covering all the services required under ObamaCare.
Since international students are not subject to Obamacare, they have the luxury of being able to shop around for more affordable health insurance. There are a couple of options from independent insurers with more flexible but usually more expensive policies. College insurance programs offer specialized policies designed for students which are guaranteed to be accepted by the Student Health Center. Most of the international scholarship programs offer their own health insurance which are usually mandatory.
It is very expensive to give bad medical care to poor people in a rich country… Paul Farmer.
Nadeem Ghori is the President of Webplex, a digital analytics agency.