UnAffordable Care Act – Sticker Shock Stuns Students
January 21, 2013 at 2:13 pm in News, ObamaCare by Tea Party Patriots 17 Comments
Students across the country are cringing as the new medical insurance law’s mandates eliminate the affordable policies they previously enjoyed, imposing a new financial burden.
“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free. ” –P.J. O’Rourke, 1993
1903. Is that a year? No, that’s 1,903%, which is how much medical premiums for students have increased at Louisiana’s Nicholls State University this year, thanks to a partial implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
In March of 2010, President Obama signed what is now popularly termed “Obamacare” into law. Much of the new health law depends on making younger, healthy people who don’t use medical care pay for older, sicker populations who do.
College and university students are now feeling the bite.
Up until last semester… Read more HERE.
My wife’s nephew was just told he had to have a PHD or have a teaching certificate to do Adjunct Teaching. This is because they are required to provide health insurance. So full time or No time. So much for real teaching experience….. Hmmmmmm. Another Failed Governmental Unexpected Consequence. Now watch the Tuition go up. Professors now will have to teach and stop the research projects they are doing and where the Universities get money from. Only so many hours in a day. No teaching, No Money. No Projects, No Money
Fewer students in college. There is already a movement to forgo college because it isn’t worthwhile. But there are also movements to put college training on the Internet and make it cheaper. It’ll be interesting.
wrong, a record number of Americans now have college degrees, 30% to be precise
Will,
What is Jack wrong about? Jack made a claim that there are fewer students in college, presumably as of now. You claim 30% of Americans have degrees, presumably using data provided by the U. S. Census Bureau as of 2011. Have you ever heard of a non sequitur? LOL
With over 8.2 million less workers in the workforce compared to 4 years ago, and more people being squeezed out of the transportation industry by the CAFTA regulations being phased in, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
what does a free trade agreement with central america have to do with anything?
why can’t she use her parents’ healthcare plan, and I can hear all of you teabaggers going “ummmmmmmmmmm”
Correction to Earlier comment: why can’t they use their parents’ plan? I can hear you teabaggers going “ummm….”
Will,
The point of the article is that the cost of health insurance is going up. Also, what evidence do you offer that going on parents policies is going to be cheaper anyway? So, maybe it should be you going “ummm”. LOL
uummmm……..38% of college students are over 25 & 25% of them are over 30 years old…therefore not eligible to be on their parents insurance, nor should they be
Will,
(A) not everyone has living parents.
(B) not everyone has parents with Health plans.
(C) not everyone wants to be dependent on their parents into their mid 20s
Four more years of Obama is sick. We are still at 8% unemployment, $3.50 for a gallon of gas, universal healthcare (witch I don’t want), and the cost of living that is out of this world. Raising taxes isn’t going to do anything but add to our debt, and this “Free” healthcare isn’t free at all. How are Doctor’s/ medical staff going to get paid? I’m a student and everyone is taking out a loan because no one can afford college. More kids are dropping out because they can’t get financial aid and they just can’t afford it. I saw a bumper sticker that said ” I love Obama care” I thought to myself did you see your paycheck lately? Are taxes are going up to pay for more government crap because Obama can’t get enough of solar energy. Well solyndra didn’t work, and it also cost the tax payers billions about $90 Billion on failed clean energy acts. Why don’t we stop the spending that would be great, but now we have another four years so if your scared now just wait.
Under the Affordable Health Care Act, students are now allowed to remain on their parents’ health insurance policies until age 26. Prior to this, the cutoff was age 21. Most of the students at Nicholls University will not need to purchase additional insurance. Why wasn’t this mentioned in the article?
To compare the costs, however, the national range in university health insurance coverage prior to the Affordable Health Care Act was between $30 and $2,000 annually, with an average across all universities of about $1,000. The less expensive insurance plans had very limited coverage. Please see this report:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08389.pdf
Ten years ago, I paid $1,200 for Fall and Spring semester health coverage at a state public university, which was more than the Nicholls students (who are NOT on their parents’ policies), will pay now. They pay $576 for each the Fall and Spring semesters for a total $1,152.
This article is highly misleading. It compares current private insurance costs to the very lowest prior coverages and not the prior national averages. Also, the students who pay $1,000/year now for health insurance will get much better coverage than the plans they were on before, if they paid considerably less.
But most students whose parents are working and have medical benefits will not have to worry about it, which was NOT an option for them before.
RS,
Florida 627.6562 allows for dependent children up to 25, who live with their parent or are a student, and up to 30 years old, who are also unmarried and have no dependent child of their own, to remain on their parents’ insurance.
Depending on your plan…You could ALREADY be on your parents plan until 26…passed it until 30 ACTUALLY.
Obamacare Allows for ONLY dependents to be on up to age 26.
Thus, Obamacare essentially does nothing for Young Floridians, but increase our costs.
You Said: “This article is highly misleading. It compares current private insurance costs to the very lowest prior coverages and not the prior national averages. Also, the students who pay $1,000/year now for health insurance will get much better coverage than the plans they were on before, if they paid considerably less.”
I SAY: Not Really True. More insurance coverage DOES NOT EQUAL better healthcare Quality.
You Said: “But most students whose parents are working and have medical benefits will not have to worry about it, which was NOT an option for them before.”
I SAY: It was an option before. SEE MY ABOVE POST. The Plans have ALWAYS been out there.
The crux of the matter is that Obamacare means that every person with previously adequate health insurance coverage to meet their own needs will now experience an increase to their cost for the same or inferior quality healthcare because of the legislation, and therefore be punished with a lower personal standard of living.
Obamacare supporters have criticized the Truth Squad’s article for not comparing current student premiums to the national average prior to the law’s passage. In the first place, the critics have their facts wrong. The prior national average in the GAO report they cite was $850, not “about $1,000” as they claim (GAO-08-389 at p. 21). The critics are either mistaken or lying. Moreover, if the type of comparison the critics suggest is made, then the percentage increase for the Bethany College entry in the table in the article is 235 percent – still MORE THAN DOUBLE. The Truth Squad’s assertion is that students are experiencing sticker shock and nothing the critics have said belies that conclusion. Second, just try telling individual students experiencing sticker shock about national averages and see how far you get. They won’t care about national averages; they will only care about the fact that their own insurance costs have quadrupled or more. The critics’ insensitivity to flesh-and-blood human beings leads to a third point: To tell students they should not feel so bad, that they are still paying less under Obamacare than the critics used to pay prior to Obamacare is equally insensitive to the individual, and infuriating. The critics were free to choose more expensive insurance when they were in school. Today’s students are no longer free to choose less expensive insurance they feel better suits their needs, because Obamacare has made all the less expensive choices ILLEGAL. Once again, Obamacare’s supporters have proven themselves oblivious to the individual and thus the enemy of personal choice and freedom. The collectivist philosophy underlying Obamacare has never worked anywhere and always proves inhumane, as demonstrated by today’s students’ plight. Escalating student health insurance premiums are a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with Obamacare, philosophically and in practice. The supporters of the law are engaged in generational warfare, forcing the young to subsidize the health care costs of the old. That is the real problem with student insurance premiums spiraling out of control, and the laws supporters attempt to paper over it with blather about national averages instead of coming to grips with the fact that they are robbing young people blind, just like ordinary street bandits. And none of their blather negates the fact that Obamacare is killing jobs and consigning young people to an impoverished future of 29- hour a week part-time employment. Still love Obamacare? You shouldn’t. It’s not working. The insanity continues. And if you are one of the people who helped create this mess, you own it! YOU are responsible and young people won’t forget it.