For this article in a college newspaper:
How ObamaCare is Hurting Bowie State Students
Posted by Eugene Craig III
on 10th November 2013 in Campus News with 29 comments
on 10th November 2013 in Campus News with 29 comments
Bowie State University Pushes its students to the Maryland Health Exchanges.
From $54/semester to a proposed $750/semester to a proposed $1900/year toCANCELLED, is the roller-coaster Bowie State University Students have been on for the last couple semesters in the University’s attempt to find a health care insurance plan that falls within the rules and regulations released by Department of Health and Human Services. Students who have not been covered by their parent’s health insurance or did not have some kind of health insurance of their own or through another source traditionally have been able to rely on the health insurance offered by the University. This is not the case anymore. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Bowie State University has been weighing new options for health insurance to provide to the students. Over the last couple semesters we have received messages that our insurance cost would go up due to the Affordable Care Act and as more specifics developed we were told that our insurance would be $1900 for the entire year. The first campus wide email sent to returning students was an obscure email with no body and simply a pdf document attached detailing that the insurance would more than likely be increasing from $60/ year to $750/semester.
The cause of the major increase listed was Obamacare and the fact that the new rules put out by HHS for colleges and universities required that the plans carry a minimal insurance of $100,000 per sickness and offer “preventative coverage protections and other consumer protections”. This is major and drastic increase over the $54/semester that students have traditionally paid to the university to participate in the university provided health insurance program. The university seriously flirted with moving to the $1900/year plan that would by most standards have been a Cadillac plan. The plan that myself and many others have purchased through the university for the time we have been allotted for $5,000 worth of insurance per sickness. In full disclosure, I have never had to use this insurance plan as I am currently covered by my parent’s insurance plan, but I do know many students who have used this insurance plan. The new plan they were considering provided up to $500,000 worth of insurance per sickness. According to Dr. Rita Wutoh, the Director of the Bowie State University Wellness center, after polling the students and getting the opinion of students serving in The Student Government Association at the time, the university decided it would be best not to provide any type of insurance option as the $1900 dollar option would not be feasibly implemented.
According to Dr. Wutoh, every student would have to be billed and would receive a refund/credit as they proved they held acceptable insurance somewhere else. In the last email to come out about the insurance options, the Dr. Wutoh made the announcement that the university would not be providing coverage for students this academic year, and that they could obtain insurance through the Maryland Health Insurance exchange. I guess if you like your coverage you really can’t keep it as millions of Americans have been finding out over the last month. As the plan the University has provided for many semester is considered to be out of compliance with the rules that HHS released for Colleges and Universities the University is forced to send everyone to the Maryland Exchange. This is one sure way to make sure those “Invincible Millennials” are on the exchanges to make sure the cost of the ACA is balanced out.
The Insomniac Libertarian 