Health Care Reform - Albright Style

After eight months of deliberation and re-drafting, President Barack Obama signed the health-care reform into law March 23. Officially titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and then subsequently called the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, with 22 pens, Obama signed the 1,000-plus paged document . The plan mandates that all Americans must have health care. Not only does the plan promise to make insurance more affordable for all citizens by providing a middle class tax cut for health care, but promises to make positive strides towards universal coverage by giving citizens opportunities that were never presented before. One of those opportunities is one that affects young people in particular; some provisions will both directly and indirectly affect young adults immediately and in the future. The one that might affect the younger generation the most, among other partitions to the document, is that those who are not eligible for coverage from their employer will be able to stay on their parents’ health care plan until they are age 26, which will go into effect later this year.

Because this will affect mostly graduating seniors, and those who have recently graduated, the most, the issue was brought up to some upcoming Albright graduates of 2010. Surprisingly, while the majority of them knew about the recent law, a few of them weren’t as knowledgeable. Brittany McLaughlin made sure to keep updated with the health reform as she feels it would affect her immediately. McLaughlin, who has a part-time position available post-graduation, will not get health coverage from her job, and before the health reform was signed, she feared she would be without any coverage. “Currently, I have health insurance under my mother’s plan. The plan will definitely affect me because if I do not find a [full time] job immediately I will not be covered under my mother's insurance forever. Initially they were going to drop me from her plan in October of this year so this time will definitely be useful,” she explained with a sense of reassurance. Annie Rhodes nodded in agreement, “I think the health care plan will definitely be beneficial to young adults. It is scary to think that because I do not have a job lined up after graduation, I could possibly be without health care for quite some time. I am a pretty healthy person, but things can happen. I am going on vacation in early June and my mother had to purchase an extended health care package for me because I will not have health insurance when we travel. It is really sad that my parent's health insurance virtually expires the day I graduate.”

For some Albright students however, the plan doesn’t seem so beneficial or necessary. Jonathan Little questioned why President Obama is making health care coverage mandatory, as well as is fining those who hesitate to get it – once the law officially takes effect on January 1, 2014, Americans will have to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. That penalty can reach up to $695 per year up to a maximum of $2,085 per family or 2.5% of the family’s household. Even when it was explained to him, his opinion didn’t seem to change. Little wasn’t the only student with questions. While La’Chae Swindle has a job lined up after graduation, she will not be provided with vision or dental insurance. She is undoubtedly worried about the future of her health care, saying “Even though Obama is making all of these promises, and they sound great, nothing will happen immediately. It’s always ‘later this year’, ‘soon’ or ‘in 2014.’ It’s April 2010 right now, so that’s what I’m concerned about.” However, her questions didn’t pertain to just her situation, but she extended them to another group of people: The Amish. She asked if the law would be extended to the group, who opposes health care and insurance of any kind – it won’t. She remarked that she thought that the plan should be explained in minute details to the public, explaining that with such an important bill that will affect so many, there shouldn’t be any questions or confusion about it.

Although the law will not be in official effect for four years, it is clear that it will most likely affect those without health insurance the most, which are mainly young people. According to a 2006 survey by the Agency for Health-care Research and Quality, young adults in their 20s account for 7 percent of America’s $1 trillion health-care expenses although they only count for 15 percent of the population. 27 percent of young adults did not have any health-care expenses in 2006. The Christian Science Monitor reported one-fourth of Americans between the ages of 19 to 29 don’t have health insurance because the cost is too high. Despite the worries of the Albright seniors, and young adults all over the country, the health care reform aims to make health insurance not so much of a burden on them.