Campaign addresses health insurance

One semester away from graduating, Duane Thompson was rushed to the emergency room because of stress.

He spent two days in the hospital, recovered quickly and was released. Two weeks later, he received a bill for $2,200.

Thompson said he was uninsured.

Now, Thompson, a graduate student in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, is leading a campaign designed to inform students of the new health care options available to them with the Affordable Care Act.

The Indiana Public Interest Research Group, or INPIRG, unveiled its new campaign

“So, you need health insurance. Now what?” at a press conference Thursday.
“A student no longer has to face the situation I did,” Thompson said. “It is now possible for a student to receive affordable and even government-subsidized health care.”

More than one-third of college students do not have health insurance when they graduate, SPEA professor Laura McCloskey said.

“This law, at a national level, is designed to equalize access to health care,” McCloskey said.

It is still possible for students to be a dependent on their parent’s insurance policy until they are 26 years old or to be insured by their employer. However, the Affordable Care Act has created a new health insurance marketplace in which individuals can choose from a number of government-monitored health care providers.

This new marketplace can be accessed at healthcare.gov. On that website, students may browse available health care plans based on their location and annual income.
“This new marketplace may be the answer for students who do not currently have the amount of coverage that they need,” SPEA associate professor Seth Freedman said.

In order to be eligible for a government subsidy, an individual must be making an annual income between 100 and 400 percent of the poverty line, or $11,500 to $40,000 per year.

Reaching that $11,500 minimum is imperative, SPEA professor Kosali Simon said.
“In order to participate in the federal marketplace program you must reach that number,” Simon said. “Otherwise you will be put on the waiting list for the state ‘Healthy Indiana’ program. The state government declined federal funding for that program, and it cannot support its current beneficiaries and the over 55,000 individuals on the waiting list,” she said.

The healthcare.gov website is currently active despite the current government shutdown. Insurance plans will not go into effect until January 2014. Open enrollment for various plans lasts until March 31, 2014.

If students do not apply for a desired plan before March 31, they must wait until the next open enrollment date, October 2014, Simon said.

When the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in January 2014, individuals who do not meet the minimum level of required insurance coverage could be subject to fines of up to 1 percent of their annual income.

“It is important to check now and see if you meet those minimum guidelines,” Simon said. “Students could be unaware of these laws, and they might soon be facing fines they weren’t even informed of.”

INPIRG will have events, concerts and handing out flyers around campus to attempt to educate students of these new options and deadlines.

Thompson said he hopes the INPIRG awareness campaign will better prepare students for future health care issues. 

“People do not want to be placed in a troublesome situation like I was,” Thompson said. “There is help out there and we are trying to inform students so they will be
prepared.”
    
Follow reporter Grayson Harbour on Twitter @GraysonHarbour.