The Affordable Care Act will soon apply to college health insurance plans if newly proposed regulation by the Department of Health and Human Services goes into effect.
The legislation, announced Wednesday, would ensure University-provided health care plans are defined as “individual health insurance coverage” and therefore be included in the bill’s provisions.
“Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, college students will have more control over their health care,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said in a news release. “This rule would ensure that these plans remain a viable, affordable option for students while guaranteeing that they are regulated consistently and offer transparent benefits.”
If the regulation is implemented, several provisions would create new rules for companies insuring student plans.
One rule would prevent companies from imposing lifetime limits on coverage after Sept. 23, 2012. Prior to that, insurance plans can have limits of no less than $100,000 per policy year.
Another stipulation would prevent companies from denying coverage to students based on pre-existing conditions.
A third rule would prevent companies from dropping sick students from their program because of paperwork mistakes.
A DHH news release says these provisions are intended to keep costs low until 2014, when the state health insurance “exchanges” to be created by the act will begin operating.
Those exchanges will theoretically keep health care costs low.
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which the Affordable Care Act is part of, was passed in March 2010 after months of vicious debate in Congress and the national media.
After taking a majority in the House of Representatives and narrowing their minority in the Senate last November, congressional Republicans started fighting to undo the Act. They are currently attempting to repeal or remove funding for the Act’s provisions.
The Act already includes several provisions that impact students, most notably allowing them to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26.
The University switched health insurance providers last semester to Macori Inc.
Two student health plans are available. The cheaper plan pays $50,000 per injury or sickness, while the enhanced plan pays $250,000 a semester — already above the limit required by the proposed new rules.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]