Health Care Shocker For N.J. Students Looking For Low-Cost Insurance

CBS New York ^

[matt04]

It was a health care shocker for college students in New Jersey who found out that they can’t buy low-cost health insurance at their schools because of the Affordable Care Act.

Now, they are at the risk of being without insurance, CBS 2′s Christine Sloan reported.

Alex McTaggert is majoring in Computer Science but even he is having trouble signing up for health insurance on the Federal website.

“It said, ‘info you entered is not valid’ so I have to call this number,” McTaggart said.

For Carolina Mendonca it was easier to put together a creative Halloween costume than it was to call the number on the website.

“I got no answer so I left it for another day and the other day never came and I went to the dentist yesterday and I have to pay $2,000 out-of-pocket,” she said.

Many students have found themselves in health care limbo this semester. Community colleges in New Jersey used to offer cheap health insurance for hundreds of dollars a year but they had to drop the practice because Federal Law prohibits the sale of bare bones policies.

...

Students like Carlos Arias depended on the low-cost health care.

“I’m kind of healthy right now but I am worried that when something happens I’m not going to go to the hospital,” Arias said.

[dennisw]

!!!!!!!!!

[catnipman]

“Aren’t students still covered on their parents’ plans?”

That would be only if the parents still had a plan and were willing and able to pay for junior, and of course the FAMILY rates for the gold-plated KommieKare plan are astronomical along with the newly massively increased out-of-pocket. Oh, and since the employer-provided plans won’t be killed until 2015 due to the illegal delay of the employer KommieKare provisions, many employers may not offer family coverage anyway in 2014.

[jocon307]

“...then the employer is forced to carry the children until 26...”

I do not think that is exactly right. I only had one situation like this but the employee had to pay extra for the kid to stay on. The insurance was available, yes, but it was not as if the kid is covered under the “family” group as they are up to 19 (22? I forget if they are a full time student).

So in some cases the school coverage might have been cheaper and some students’ parents might not have insurance at all.

[Dilbert56]

In my case yes, there was an additional charge for my child (just as there was for my wife). It was still a lot less than a comparable individual policy. While it worked out great for us it also meant every employee's base costs went up. More socialism.