For College Students – It’s not simple
I support a simpler health care system. That is my number one priority. Thus I am unimpressed with the health care reform platform of our newly elected president. I do share the hope and optimism of many that meaningful change can and will happen.
But getting a simpler health care system means that some of the stakeholders need to be cut lose from the system. That is a politically daunting task. It is why most health care reform proposals try to add more patches to what is already a shabby patchwork quilt of private and public programs.
One effort does try to simplify a small part of our current system. At least 30 states have mandated that insured health care plans cover all children until they reach a certain age. Yet as simple as this concept is, it comes with more variations than states that have adopted it.
What are we trying to simplify?
Most health plans offer parents with dependent children in college the opportunity to continue coverage for their child if they provide evidence that the child is enrolled in a qualified post secondary education program.
This is a holdover from the days when children entered the job market after high school and those jobs provided health insurance. Today, it is more likely that neither half of that statement is true. It is an obvious adaption to changing times. It is a relatively easy way to expand coverage to a vulnerable population. Young adults are healthier than the general population and therefore not an expensive expansion. Of course, that doesn’t prevent this trend’s detractors from referring to it as the “slacker mandate”.
