After months of debate, President Barack Obama signed the health care reform bill Tuesday, creating future changes to health care for the United States.
A major purpose of the bill is to give everyone an equal chance to be able to purchase health care in the U.S. According to the White House Web site, Health Reform will put American families and small business owners in control of their own health care.
Rob Mellen, political science and public administration instructor at Mississippi State University, said most of the elements of the health care bill will not go into effect until 2014.
“The biggest impact for students in the near term, is that insurance companies are creating policies for a pool of people who do not have insurance, usually due to pre-existing conditions, to allow them to purchase insurance with the help of the government, but it will be through a private sector,” he said.
Mellen said the bill will also change students’ existing health insurance policies if the student is part of their parents’ policy.
“A major impact for most students is that the bill will increase the age limit for remaining on their parents’ health insurance to the age of 26 as long as they are still in school,” he said. “So it helps out students who can’t afford their own health care and haven’t graduated yet.”
Mellen said starting in 2014, people working in lower income jobs that cannot afford health care, or their job does not offer health insurance through the company, can get assistance through the government to get health insurance.
He said through the reconciliation bill, there may be changes to the bill that was already passed.
“Because the House and the Senate have to pass the exact same bill with the same language, the reconciliation bill will have to go through both the House and the Senate before that bill will pass,” he said.
Longest Student Health Center administrator Robert Cadenhead said the students will see no immediate changes in the Student Health Insurance, the health insurance policy through the health center.
“The current effects of the bill itself are not going to effect our insurance policy right now,” Cadenhead said. “But the pre-existing inclusion clause will most likely cause a lot of the premiums to increase in the future.”
He said the health care reform will not change the way students use the health center.
“All MSU students are welcome to use all our services available, and the way we serve our students will not change because of the bill,” he said.
In a press release from the White House, Obama said the health care reform will not give the government control over the people’s health care. The reforms will give the people more control over their own health care.
“If you like your current insurance, you will keep your current insurance. No government takeover; nobody is changing what you’ve got if you’re happy with it,” Obama said. “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. In fact, more people will keep their doctors because your coverage will be more secure and more stable than it was before I signed this legislation.”
Obama said there will be immediate changes to health insurance in the next few months.
“This year, insurance companies will no longer be able to drop people’s coverage when they get sick or place lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care they can receive. This year, all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care,” he said. “This year, tens of thousands of uninsured Americans with a pre-existing condition and parents whose children have a pre-existing condition will finally be able to purchase the coverage they need.”
The bill will also change the way small businesses provide health insurance to their employees. Starting in 2014, businesses with more than 50 employees will be required to offer health care to their employees or pay a penalty of $750 a year for each full-time employee but could be changed $2,000 per employee per year if the reconciliation bill is passed.
“What we’re going to do is create exchanges all across the country where uninsured people – small businesses – they’re going to be able to purchase affordable, quality insurance,” Obama said.
The health care reform bill also includes a 10 percent excise tax on the use of indoor tanning beds that will go into affect July 1, while most changes will not be affective until 2014.