President Barack Obama on March 23 signed historic health care legislation that will extend coverage to an expected 30 million of the currently uninsured.
While the specifics of how the reform will affect student health insurance at Tufts are unclear, one of the more significant measures of the bill for students, especially for graduating seniors, is the provision that children can stay on their parents' health insurance plans longer.
"For the Tufts population, because they are already required to have health insurance, the biggest change is the fact that students can be covered by their parents' insurance until the age of 26," Senior Director of Health and Wellness Service Michelle Bowdler said.
According to Bowdler, this change especially benefits graduate students. Senior Samuel Perrone, a Student Health Organizing Coalition (SHOC) organizer, agrees with Bowdler that this age adjustment is the most significant change for students. SHOC is a Tufts−based organization that seeks to bring a student voice to discussions on student health insurance
The bill also bans insurance companies from denying coverage to patients with pre−existing conditions and mandates that almost all Americans must purchase health insurance.
Tufts and Aetna Student Health, the provider for Tufts students' insurance, during the renewal process earlier this year eliminated the pre−existing condition clause in the university's student insurance plan, according to Bowdler.
Congressmen Edward Markey (D−Mass.) and Michael Capuano (D−Mass.), the representatives for Medford and Somerville, respectively, both voted in favor of the bill.
"This new law is a win−win for our country and our community, helping to reduce the deficit while helping families save money on health care costs by providing the largest middle−class tax cut for health care in history," Markey said in a statement released to the Daily.
While the new health insurance requirement is a milestone, it may not drastically affect Massachusetts as the state has already covered some of the provisions. A similar 2006 Massachusetts law requires almost all Massachusetts residents to purchase health insurance and provides subsidized or free health care for those unable to afford it.
Perrone added that the legislation will create health exchanges, an approach that has already been used in Massachusetts through the Health Connector. Health exchanges are marketplaces for health insurance in which different insurance companies can showcase their plans.
"The Massachusetts connector offers a range of plans to individuals who are buying without employer−based insurance … some plans are subsidized," Perrone said. "The low income bracket can buy cheap plans from state with pretty decent coverage."
The health care legislation also focuses on preventive care. Beginning this year, private insurance plans must provide preventive care for free, and Medicare will follow suit in 2011.
"Preventive care is something that insurance companies have historically not covered and that is really problematic," Bowdler said.
Tufts' current student health insurance plan does not cover preventive care to a great extent, according to Bowdler. For example, the plan does not cover pre−college immunizations, a form of preventive care.
"It will be interesting to see if some of these preventatives fall in student plans," Bowdler said.
A representative from Aetna Student Health could not be reached for comment.
While enthusiastic about the bill's passage, Perrone and SHOC believe that the bill could have gone further.
"We all think it's great. It could have done a lot more, but given the political circumstances it is probably the best we could have hoped for," Perrone said.
The U.S. House of Representatives was forced to pass the U.S. Senate's version of health care legislation when Democrats lost the filibuster−proof majority in Senate with the January election win by Rep. Scott Brown (LA '81).
After the March 21 passage of the health care bill in the House, the House sent a series of changes to the health care bill to Senate that were encompassed in a budget reconciliation bill. The Senate on March 25 passed the budget reconciliation bill and the House passed it later that day.
According to the budget reconciliation process, a budget reconciliation bill is not subject to filibuster in Senate. The bill passed in both chambers with unanimous Republican dissent.
