Student Health Insurance to be Held to New Standards?

Proposed legislation would hold student insurance to same requirements as other plans per Affordable Care Act

(RxWiki News) A newly proposed federal regulation would ensure that students who are enrolled in health insurance through their school or university would receive the same benefits afforded by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced the proposed regulation, which requires college plans to not impose lifetime coverage limits. The proposal would also make it illegal for insurers to drop coverage when enrollees get sick because of an unintentional mistake on an application or deny students under 19 years of age coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 institutions of higher education offer health insurance plans in the U.S. Students flock to the plans when their parent's plans no longer cover them or when those plans become too expensive, making college health plans their only option in many cases.

Under the proposed legislation, student coverage would not be allowed to have annual dollar limits capped at $100,000 for essential health benefits covering policy years before September 23, 2012.

The Affordable Care Act has also increased the age (to 26) for which young adults can remain covered by their parent's plans if employer-based insurance is not available to them.

Review Date: 
February 10, 2011