Health Care Reform

Young Americans had a great victory this year when President Obama signed the health care reform bill into law. Campus Progress highlights what health care reform means for this generation. .

Quick Links:

Tell your Rep how you feel about their vote for or against health care reform. The passage of health care reform was a huge victory. But while so many of us were working to make reform better, some Senators and Representatives were trying to kill the bill.

Find out how your reps voted. If your Representative and Senators voted yes – thank them. If they voted no, tell them how you feel.

Take Action

Young adults make up one-third of the uninsured population, and about one-third of young adults are without health insurance. With reform, about 19 million young adults will now have affordable access to health insurance. Some say young adults are “invincible” and don’t need insurance or don’t care about health care. But this is just not true; here are just a few reasons why health care reform is important for young people:

• 15% of young adults suffer from chronic health conditions
• Over half of uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 work for small businesses which are less likely to offer health coverage than larger firms
• 54% of all young adults have low incomes (below 200 percent of the federal poverty level). Low-income young adults are more than 2.5 times as likely to be uninsured as higher income young adults
• Young adults lose insurance under their parents’ plan when they turn 19 or graduate college ( in most states), a time when they may be looking for work and unlikely able to buy insurance
• Young adults have the highest rate of injury-related emergency department visits among all age groups

Health care reform means that insurance companies can’t jack up prices and reject young people with pre-existing conditions anymore. It means that young adults can have the security of staying on their parents’ health insurance plan until age 26. And it means that young people of all economic backgrounds will be able to afford quality health care, which now has become too expensive for many of us. Here are some provisions in the health care bill that will impact young people and when those benefits will kick in:

Immediate Health Care Benefits for Young Adults

90 Days after Passage (June 2010)

• Access to insurance through a temporary “high-risk pool” for Americans who were denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. This will benefit the 15 percent of young Americans who suffer from chronic conditions.

6 Months after Date of Passage (September 2010)

• Allow young Americans to remain on their parents’ health insurance until their 26th birthday. Over 2 million previously uninsured young adults will benefit from this provision.
• Prohibit health plans from dropping individuals’ coverage when they get sick.
• Ban lifetime limits on covered benefits.
• Prohibit restrictive annual limits on benefits (all annual limits banned by 2014).
• Require pre-deductible preventive care services with no cost-sharing under all new plans (applies to all existing plans by 2018).

January 1, 2011

• Require all plans to spend 80 percent (for small/individual plans) or 85 percent (for large group plans) of premiums on medical services. Those who fail to do so must submit rebates to consumers.

Benefits after Full Implementation (January 1, 2014)

• Expand Medicaid to cover every American earning less than 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), providing coverage to 9 million currently uninsured young adults.
• Provide tax credits for purchasing health insurance to individuals who lack employer-provided insurance and earn less than 400 percent of the FPL.
• Ban denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
• Limit insurance companies to charging older adults no more than three times the insurance premiums of younger adults.
• Establish state insurance exchanges to facilitate market competition and enforce minimum benefit standards.

One of the greatest provisions for young people in the health care bill is the ability to stay on your parents’ insurance plan until age 26. However, some people have questions about how that will work or whether it will cost their parents’ more money. But it’s actually pretty simple. Check out some frequently asked questions:

Q. Who is eligible for the age 26 provision?

The age 26 provision is eligible for young adults whose parents have insurance plans that provide dependent coverage for children (which most plans do). The health care reform bill requires any group health plan or plan in the individual market that provides dependent coverage for children to continue to make that coverage available up to age 26.

Q. When will this provision take effect?

Young adults under the age of 26 will be able to take advantage of this provision as of September 2010, six months after the enactment of the legislation (March 23, 2010).

Q.  How much will this cost my parents?

Parents will simply be paying as they did when young people were on their plans previously, at a family plan rate. However, there may be slight rate increases for family plans due to the extra years in coverage.

Q.  Does it matter what state I live in?

Many states have their own laws for dependent coverage so you should look to see what rules your state has. (State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) - To get information on dependent coverage laws in your state.). The new federal law establishes a minimum level of dependent coverage up to your 26th birthday. If your state law requires more coverage than the federal law, it is likely that the state law will still apply.

Click here to see more FAQs.

Campus Progress has never withdrawn its support from the health care reform bill - even with the loss of the public option. We supported and fought for the public option from day one. We still support it. We still believe that a government run plan is the best way to provide affordable coverage for all. And we will continue to send that message out because this fight is not over. The reason we even passed a health care bill at all is because of so many groups speaking out about a public option first. The same fight must be made for fair abortion coverage. Although we were happy to see the Stupak amendment fail in the end, we still support stronger measures to protect reproductive rights for women and hope to see progress past the Hyde amendment in the future because even the status quo is not acceptable.

The historic passage of health care reform will provide this country with a way forward, past the rhetoric and obstructionism endured throughout decades of debate. The benefits, however, are just the beginning of the kind of change young progressives hope to accomplish. Make no mistake, this bill suffered through endless industry lobbying efforts, political bickering and compromises, and the end result leaves out many issues that young Americans care about and fight for everyday. The fact is that this health care system still has a long way to go in terms of providing true universal coverage for all through a public option or a single-payer system, adequately including reproductive rights, protecting the LGBTQ community, strengthening access for minority communities and undocumented immigrants and improving affordability for young and low-income adults. 

The passage of this bill is just the first step down that road, and one that advocates have been working for decades.  So while some might be disappointed with things lost throughout the long debate in this bill, remember that we now have a strong foundation for change that we can all continue to build on.

• You may be eligible for tax credits to help buy health insurance once it is mandated in 2014, check out this nifty tool to find out!

• Reform and You: Enter some info and find out how reform will affect you personally.

• Health Reform in Your State: Find out how reform will benefit your state.

• How Health Care Reform Will Benefit Hispanic Americans