100405_ci_healthbill.c
Headline: Students feel impact of Obama’s health care reform
Layercake: Young adults weigh in on the good, bad
By SASHA LEKACH
Aggie Associate Editor
Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Joseph Iser[cq] can’t see much a UC Davis student could find problematic in the recently signed health care reform.
The law, which passed this March, specifically targets younger constituents with a new option of staying on parents’ health insurance plans until age 26.
“[Yolo County] is very optimistic,” Iser said. “This is a way to make sure students have health care coverage.”
Although changes will not take effect for six months, Iser said the benefits are already apparent. Another valuable component of the bill is that students with preexisting conditions cannot be excluded and are treated equally for insurance coverage, he said.
“For students in particular it’s such a great benefit,” he said. “It’s a really good deal.”
Davis College Democrats Vice President of Communications Kelsey McQuaid [cq]shared similar views with Iser and is optimistic for what this means for future generations. Davis College Democrats did not release a public position on the bill, but McQuaid said in debates and discussions there seemed to be a common view.
“Our club members have varying views on how extensive reform should be,” McQuaid said in an e–mail interview. “But we all agree that this bill is a critical first step.”
Outside of the club, sophomore political science and Spanish major McQuaid was happy to see Obama sign the bill.
“This reform is a building block upon which we can further improve the system,” she said.
Not all students are celebrating the recently signed reform.
Lydia Sandlin[cq], a senior political science major, is part of the UCD group Davis College Republicans (DCR). After meetings and debates, the organization decided the health care reform has some problems.
“Our point of view is that it got rushed through the house and senate so fast,” Sandlin said. “And it’s so long, so nobody really knows what it said.”
Although Sandlin disagreed with the politics of the reform, she said the new age limit is a benefit that all students will appreciate.
Others problems Sandlin and other DCR members identified include its slow start – many parts of it will not be seen until 2014 – and a non-transparent signing process.
“We have a couple members who were infuriated by it,” Sandlin said. “It’s not just going to be completely free health care. To pay for those services, it is going to have to come from somewhere.”
New Grad Life, an online blog for soon-to-be graduates and recent college graduates, has an online poll about the health care bill. The site’s poll asked, “Does the recent health care bill really help college students/grads?” Of the 131 responses, 47 percent said yes, while 42 percent said no. Eleven percent was not sure.
SASHA LEKACH can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
