Despite health care reform's prominence in the federal government's agenda and the public arena, the outcomes on the Tufts community of the bill recently signed by President Barack Obama remain unclear. The legislation contains significant improvements for health care coverage for young adults, such as the ability for children to stay under their family's insurance plan until the age of 26. Despite the positive changes for students that will come out of the legislation, the convoluted language of the lengthy bill has led to confusion about how it will affect Tufts' student health insurance. Tufts students need to be properly informed of how the health care system supported by the university will be affected by the legislation.
One of the most significant questions about the legislation's impact on Tufts students regards insurance for preventive care, which includes examinations by specialist physicians and university-mandated immunizations. The bill will direct all private insurance companies and Medicare to provide insurance for such procedures without charge. Prior to the passage of the bill, private insurance companies each had their own policies regarding preventive medicine. Under the bill, students who receive health care through non-Tufts plans appear to be covered for these procedures. Approximately 20 percent of Tufts students, however, are on the student health insurance plan, which currently does not cover some significant forms of preventive care, such as pre-college immunizations. Yet Massachusetts state health care laws have their own requirements and nuances that may potentially exempt Aetna Student Health, Tufts' official health care insurance provider, from changing its coverage the way that other companies must. It is necessary for Aetna to provide preventive coverage for students on Tufts' plan, even if the company is not legally required under Massachusetts' student health care laws to do so. Initial preventive care reduces the risk of developing a medical condition demanding treatment, ideally saving Aetna and the affected students the money that they might need to spend on expensive medication, therapies and doctor appointments. Moreover, Tufts should be wholeheartedly committed to ensuring that its students are as healthy as possible — the student community must be healthy to be fully vibrant. This commitment entails making sure that the university's official health care insurance provider complies with the nationally approved standards of health care to which all students are entitled.
Equally as significant as the changes to Tufts' health insurance plan is the task of publicizing these changes, and of informing students of the changes to all insurance plans mandated by the national legislation. Health care reform is a vital issue for all students, and there is currently a wealth of confusion surrounding the health bill's impact on the university's health services. Especially given that health care is such a naturally complicated issue, the Tufts administration must make an intensive, prolonged effort to ensure that students and their families are both aware of and prepared for the changes that affect them.
Health care reform has the potential to improve the lives of every American, and students in particular. Tufts must act now to make sure that this potential is fully realized, both through implementing major changes to the plan it endorses and through making all students aware of relevant changes to their health insurance coverage.
