As the White House works to fix difficulties with its new health care exchange website, University health policy experts want students to make sure they are aware of the options available to them.
The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, allows students to remain covered by their parent’s health insurance plan until the age of 26. This extension of coverage applies to both married and unmarried young adults.
Students who make less than $45,960 annually and are looking for health insurance are eligible for federal subsidies, which pay for part of health insurance plans. These subsidies are only available through the exchange, an online health insurance marketplace run by the federal government in most states, including in Virginia.
Carolyn Engelhard, director of the Health Analyst Policy Program in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University, said students should learn about the options available to them, particularly as they transition off of their parents’ health insurance plans.
“As long as parents claim their young adult children then the ACA doesn’t affect them too much,” Engelhard said. “But if there’s a graduate student or someone who is no longer being claimed as a deduction on their parents income tax, then that student could go to the exchange and probably qualify for a subsidy and get it at a very reduced rate.”
Engelhard said when students are required to purchase their own health insurance they should be aware that lower premium prices are not always the cheapest option.
“The cheaper the premium, the more you’re going to pay out of pocket every time you go to the doctor or to get a prescription, so it’s kind of a tradeoff,” she said.
But she also said students do not usually need to make many trips to the doctor where they have to pay out of pocket. “Generally speaking, students tend to be a very healthy group of people,” she said.
Many young adults are not covered by any health insurance plan and will either need to purchase insurance or pay a tax when the individual mandate kicks in early next year, Engelhard said.
“Depending on whether [students’] parents include them on their policy, then presumably you graduate and get a job and your job will either offer your health insurance or not,” Engelhard said. “And right now the employee health insurance is typically better than that obtained through the exchange.”
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