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How Obamacare is Destroying Student Health Insurance
One of the areas of the health insurance marketplace hardest hit by President Obama’s new mess of regulations and requirements is the plans offered to college students. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning on what it’s doing to the marketplace, including highlighting one college which is facing premium increases of over 350% – and decided to drop coverage altogether:
Some colleges are dropping student health-insurance plans for the coming academic year and others are telling students to expect sharp premium increases because of a provision in the federal health law requiring plans to beef up coverage. The demise of low-cost, low-benefit health plans for students is a consequence of the 2010 health-care overhaul. The law is intended to expand coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, but it is also eliminating some insurance options…
Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., this past year offered a 12-month plan that cost students $445, while capping payouts at $10,000. For the 2012-13 academic year, the Obama administration said the payout cap must be at least $100,000. Bethany said students would have had to pay more than $2,000 to get that new level of coverage. “We decided not to offer coverage for our students next year given the proposed increase in premium,” said Bob Schmoll, Bethany’s vice president for finance.
Remember, though, “you will not have to change plans. For those who have insurance now, nothing will change under the Obama plan – except that you will pay less.”
Published in General
Jonah G. warned against misusing the Slippery Slope argument, but aren’t we seeing it in action here?
Insuring college students should be low-hanging fruit for healthcare reform. The fact that obamacare is decreasing access and increasing for these young people is quite illustrative.
$35/month. That was my premium, in college. It was enough that it even covered 5 days in the hospital for a terrible broken leg injury. Plus two surgeries.
What was the problem, again? My parents loved the idea of getting me off their insurance, before I was 26.
Ben, I made the mistake of hitting the link at the bottom and saw that stupid Obama logo. My eyes are now sprained and I’m suing you. To your point, I am sorting out whether Obama overtly lied or was so stupid as not to realize all his regulations were going to increase prices.