S T A T E & HILL
are employed but not insured through their employer can struggle to pay these premiums. “COBRA is more than $400 (a month) for individual coverage so after you’ve just taken a major hit to your finances, that’s not very affordable,” she said.
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Ford School Spotlight
States, PPACA offer some solutions
Lavelle said some states—Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire—have passed laws to help people maintain health insurance following a divorce. The laws require many employers to continue subsidizing dependent coverage for ex-spouses even after the divorce, which keeps premium rates affordable. Lavelle is not aware of studies that have examined the effectiveness of these laws, but following her interview on NPR she received an email from a divorce lawyer in Boston who strongly endorsed the Massachusetts law. “It sounds like it is helping a lot of people, but I can’t say for sure from the data,” Lavelle said. On the national level, some provisions of PPACA, signed by President Obama in March 2010, would broaden coverage options for women. Medicaid eligibility would be expanded to cover more low-income individuals above the poverty line, as well as more women who are not mothers. “Most women without children can’t get (Medicaid) right now, regardless of their income level, so that’s going to be a big change,” Lavelle said. PPACA would also prohibit private insurers from denying women coverage for preexisting conditions, as they could before the law. The Supreme Court was deliberating the law’s constitutionality at press time. If upheld, many key provisions would not go into effect until 2014. While Lavelle is optimistic that the Affordable Care Act would address many current shortcomings, she remains discouraged that the connection between divorce and health coverage continues to be overlooked. “I think it’s something people sort of connect with,” she said. “When I mention my research topic, many women I meet say that maintaining health insurance coverage after divorce was difficult or impossible for themselves or a sister or friend.” Nothing illustrates this oversight like the White House’s own document promoting how PPACA would benefit women. It states women would remain insured through exchanges even if “they lose their jobs, switch jobs, move, or become sick.” “To me, the omission of divorce is striking,” Lavelle said. “I guess word hasn’t gotten out yet that this is a problem.” Consider the word out. ■
U.S. Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI), the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives, sat down for a frank conversation with the Ford School, “What’s gone so wrong with Congress?”
In her lecture “Kids v. Adults” the Honorable Margaret Spellings—former U.S. Secretary of Education and White House Domestic Policy Advisor—talked about the seminal education law, No Child Left Behind.