Health insurance reform provides welcome benefits to college students

For college students across the nation, the recent landmark passage of health insurance reform will help keep students healthy, and help them pay for school.

In what is the biggest health insurance reform in decades, according to the non-partisan government Congressional Budget Office, the health insurance reform bill passed by Congress will cover 32 million Americans for a total cost of $940 billion over the next ten years.

College aged students make up one of the largest groups of the uninsured population in the United States. Data from a Census Bureau report from 2007 estimated that there were about 13.2 million uninsured individuals in the United States between the ages of 19 and 29, totaling approximately 40 percent of the uninsured population.

For months, the legislation seemed on the brink of collapse in Congress. Last March, in the state of California, a turning point occurred when Anthem Blue Cross, the largest health insurance provider in the state of California, raised its premiums an average of 40 percent per customer. This news made national headlines, and proved that if health insurance reform did not pass, premiums would continue to rise. This in turn would cause many individuals across the nation, including students, to no longer be able to afford health insurance.

Kay Peek comes in contact with the uninsured student population daily as Director of Student Health Services at Chaffey College. Peek said that due to the poor economic climate, the Student Health Services center sees about 60 students a day. She estimates that at least 80 to 90 percent of the students do not have health insurance.

"In the fall of 2008 we saw approximately 1,700 students. Last fall, we saw 11,424 students. What I see are students in terrible need of health care," Peek said.

Gabriella Delgadillo, a student at Chaffey College, knows firsthand what it is like to not be wealthy enough to afford health insurance, and not poor enough to receive a government subsidy for health insurance.

"Even if you do have a job, that doesn't guarantee you medical benefits. I should be able to have health insurance. It's really risky not having health insurance," Delgadillo said.

Steve Bovi, another student attending Chaffey College, had to turn to drastic measures to pay for health insurance after a health scare more than two years ago. "I had to sell my car to pay for the medical bills when I got a tooth infection," Bovi said.

It is students like these that the health insurance reform legislation intends to help. One of the most significant portions of the health insurance legislation provides that young people, up to the age of 26, can be included on their parent's employer provided health insurance plans.

Delgadillo looks forward to this specific component of the health insurance legislation. "I think that would really help," she said.

Another important aspect of the health insurance reform bill is the student loan reform measures attached to the legislation. Not only will the health insurance reform legislation keep students healthy, it will change the way students pay for college.

Beginning July 1, government subsidies under the Federal Family Education Loan program normally given to private lenders like Sallie Mae for student loans, will instead be lent directly to students under the Direct Loan program.

The student loan reform intends to reduce the deficit, and help pay for health care costs, saving taxpayers $61 billion over the next ten years, according to the CBO. Approximately $9.1 billion will fund health care costs in its early years. An additional $36 billion will expand the Pell Grant program.

Pell Grants, which help low income students pay for college, will be increased from the current maximum of $5,500 to $5,975 by 2017.

The Obama Administration and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that without the passage of health care reform with the attached student loan reform, Pell Grants--which many students in California use in combination with Cal Grants--could have decreased to a maximum of $2,150 by the beginning of the fall semester at the end of this year.

"The average student ends up with more than $23,000 in debt. So when this change takes effect in 2014, we'll cap a graduate's annual student loan repayments at 10 percent of his or her income," President Obama said in his weekly address on March 27.

Currently, students are required to only pay at minimum 15 percent of their income on student loan payments.

After 20 years, any remaining debt not yet paid off on student loans will be forgiven by the federal government as long as payments were kept up. Those who choose a career in public service, mainly in government positions, will have their debt forgiven after only 10 years.

Helping keep students healthy enough to stay in school, and providing much needed reform to the student loan system, this legislation will finally give students the help they have long needed.