How College Health Plans Are Failing Students

How Colleges Are Failing Students on Health Care— And What You Can Do About It

On Thursday, the first big pieces of the new health-care overhaul took effect. Among other things, the rules mandate that insurance companies offer coverage to adult children until the age of 26 and devote at least 80% of their revenue to health-care costs. But one major player was notably absent from these new rule changes: colleges. They have managed to sidestep, at least for now, the regulatory clampdown that has sent hospitals, insurers and corporations scrambling. How'd they pull it off? Since student plans for the 2010-11 school year were negotiated before Sept. 23, they aren't subject to the regulations this year.

And if industry and university groups succeed, the plans will be exempted permanently from many elements of the new law. At a June American College Health Association conference, James Turner, executive director of student health at the University of Virginia and former president of the ACHA, told audience members that Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, had told him during an earlier meeting to "tell me what you want written into the regulations and we'll make it happen." "The White House denies that Ms. DeParle ever said that," says White House spokesman Nick Papas. "The administration is still working on this issue and is eager to hear from all parties." The health-care overhaul has major implications for young adults and their parents. For the first time, parents will have the choice of keeping their graduate-student children on their corporate insurance plans or opting for cheaper college plans. They should think carefully.

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