In North Carolina, student insurance costs rise under Obamacare

CNN ^ | September 5, 2012 | Peter Hamby

[grundle]

Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN) - President Obama's health care reform law, which expands preventative care and lets young people remain on their parents' health insurance plans well into their 20s, is a central part of his election year pitch to college students.

And perhaps nowhere are students more critical to the president's re-election chances than in North Carolina, a state jam-packed with colleges and universities that were blitzed by Obama campaign organizers in 2008.

But as the president fights to keep the conservative-leaning state in his column this November, education officials here are complicating his campaign message by citing "Obamacare" as a reason for the rising cost of student health insurance plans on campuses from Asheville to Wilmington.

In April, Tom Ross, the president of the University of North Carolina system, sent a letter to the university's board of governors announcing that students should brace for a hike in the cost of university-provided insurance plans.

Ross explained that at least 64,000 North Carolina college students - roughly a third of those enrolled in the state's 17 public universities - should expect to see "substantial" increases in health coverage costs for the 2012-2013 academic year.

"Based on more than three semesters of actual claims experience, as well as the new provisions of the Affordable Care Act, we are facing large increases in premiums for our students," Ross wrote in the letter.

[SnakeDoctor]

"Four more years!"

SnakeDoc

[eagleye85]

This is a predictable result of the Obamacare legislation.

[PGR88]

Gov’t market manipulation, mandates and price controls ALWAYS have the same result.

[riverdawg]

The cost for princess riverdawg to enroll in the health insurance plan offered by her (public) university would have been $2200 for the academic year. We kept her on our family plan for about $360 for 12 months.

[o2bfree]

Let’s thanks the NC GOP for its fantastic timing in releasing this bombshell!!!