The U.S. House passed a plan to overhaul health care earlier this month, and the U.S. Senate began discussing its version of a health care makeover Monday. Caesar said he’s hopeful a form of universal health care would eliminate some of the stress caused by endless medical bills and co-pays.

The House health care plan narrowly passed 220-215 earlier this month with one Republican vote, and the Senate is expected to examine controversial health care issues before voting, such as inclusion of abortion, the public option — a government-run insurance option that would be an alternative to private insurers — and the control of rising health care costs.

Health care for students

The legislation’s limited inclusion of college students is an oversight, said James Hillard, MSU associate provost for human health affairs.

The House bill states young adults would be covered on their parents’ policies through age 26, but Hillard said it is unclear if independents or students whose parents are uninsured could get coverage.

“We are at risk for the students getting left out,” Hillard said. “We should treat the university as an employer and have the insurance pools come together to offer coverage for the students, the same way if students were employees of the university.”

Political science freshman Molly Schmidt said she is pleased the House bill requires extended coverage for dependents.

“Everybody deserves an opportunity to get medical attention regardless of age, income and preexisting condition,” Schmidt said. “With (this) health care plan, you are on your parents’ plan until you’re (26). It gives you time to be finding a job but still be covered.”

About 8,000 MSU graduate and undergraduate students are covered by MSU’s health care option, MSU Director of Benefits Renee Rivard said.

The MSU student health insurance plan is offered through Aetna Student Health and is an “injury and illness plan” that covers services such as visits at Olin Health Center, up to $2,000 a year for prescriptions, specialty care and an annual gynecological examination. Rivard said the plan costs single undergraduate students approximately $1,390 per year.

“Until we can get our hands on a final version (of the plan), it will be tough to determine the impact on our students or employees,” Rivard said.

But fearing that the university’s option isn’t enough, ASMSU is devising its own version of a health care option for
students. ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government. Student Assembly approved a bill last week allowing the group to work with an insurance agency to create a more affordable plan that would compete with MSU’s option.

Leonard Fleck, an MSU professor of philosophy and medical ethics, said despite concerns about the federal plan’s lack of attention to students, it should cover independent young adults and those whose parents don’t have insurance.

“In theory, virtually everyone who is a college student would, under a reformed health plan, have insurance,” he said.

Concerned with cost

The House’s health care plan, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., would cover about 96 percent of all Americans, Dingell said in an e-mail.

“It offers everyone, regardless of income, age or health status, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have real access to quality, affordable health insurance when they need it,” he said.

The 4 percent excluded from coverage might be illegal immigrants living in the U.S. or immigrants living in the U.S. with a green card, Fleck said.

Dingell said the House plan stays within President Barack Obama’s $900 billion budget for a health care plan and is deficit neutral.

But some still are concerned about the $1.2 trillion cost of the plan.

“(The bill) increases health insurance premiums, forces families off the plans they like and onto plans designed by Washington, raises taxes on small businesses by over $150 billion, cuts seniors’ Medicare benefits by $500 billion, and kills millions of jobs,” said U.S. Rep Mike Rogers, R-Brighton.

Rogers said the plan would be problematic for college students because it bans catastrophic insurance plans, which only cover emergency situations. Catastrophic plans often are used by college-aged people because they are relatively healthy and need little coverage.

“Instead (it will) levy fines and potentially jail time on college students and others who do not purchase full-scale, government-approved insurance,” Rogers said.

But Fleck said health care reform would create savings for the majority of health care consumers.

“(Cost) will go down in terms of what has to come out of their pockets,” Fleck said. “If right now they are buying health insurance as an individual from an insurance company, that costs a lot more than having it provided to you.”