You didn't think health insurance for the poor was going to be
free, did you? Who, exactly, did you think
was going to pay for it?
Students at vaunted Cornell University are plenty smart enough to know they should not have to pay a penalty for not buying the school's health insurance if they already have coverage, but that's exactly what a new policy at the Ivy League school requires.
The $350 "health fee" for opting out of the school’s insurance plan was announced in a memo school President David Skorton posted on Cornell’s website last week, according to higher education blog The College Fix. But it is just setting in with the student body, and many attending the Ithaca, N.Y., school are not pleased. Under the Affordable Care Act, students must have insurance, but making those already covered pay an extra fee to skip the school's plan is not sitting well.
“Effective next academic year, 2015-16, we will be introducing a student health fee for those not enrolled in the Cornell Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP),” read the memo. “As a physician, parent and president, I am proud of our university's long history of providing quality medical, mental health, education and prevention services on campus. These essential services play a critical role in student well-being and, therefore, success. Yet funding these services — and creating access to them for all students — has been a growing fiscal challenge, and a personal concern of mine.”
So if I understand this correctly,
those that have must pay for
those that don't have. Because equality, or something. What exactly did you think socialism looked like? Well, dumplings, it looks like this:
“It is our responsibility to work together, to make sure everyone in our community who needs help gets it. That is a burden, and a benefit, we all share,” She (some Cornell administrator) said.
University students and faculty are some of the biggest socialists out there--until it's
their pockets being picked.
Let me just play Devil's Advocate on this one …but don't worry, the conclusion will still be that the ACa sucks. When I went to UCD, I was still on my parents' plan, which was legal even back then. So, if I went back for breaks and needed medical care, I got to go to my old doctor. But.. when I was at UCD, if I needed help, like, when I dislocated my knee … I couldn't use my parents' plan, without driving two hours … so I used the campus clinic -- which wasn't 'free' but was included in the cost of my tuition. So, I don't think this charge is unreasonable, if it reflects an actual increase in cost -- especially at a destination school like Cornell, students are much more likely to use the school's health care than their own. My guess is that at West Point, it was different … if you got in, everything was paid for, in return for your service commitment (and do correct me if I'm wrong) .
ReplyDeleteSo, the school is actually doing us a favor: this is a concrete example of how Obamacare increases costs, despite the fact that our illustrious President said that costs would fall. If they hid this in a tuition increase, no one would be upset. Imagine adding $350 to a $60k, or whatever it is, tuition? You'd barely blink. But make them write a separate check? That's when you start fomenting change. Oh, and Obamacare sucks.