OPINION
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017 HEALTH CARE
Lawmakers: safeguard health insurance for young adults The dependent child coverage provision should remain intact regardless of any new health laws.
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ince the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, I have been able to live with the comfort of knowing I was protected — I would be able to stay on my parents’ health insurance plan until I turn 26 as part of the dependent child coverage provision. The ACA, also known as “Obamacare,” is not universal coverage, but it subsidizes the cost of insurance for those who cannot afford it. It also mandates that people buy insurance, or else pay a fine. The law has had its fair share of controversy, as conservatives claim coercing Americans to buy insurance is unjust. But one of the most popular LUKE MOTTOLA aspects of the ACA, regardless of party affiliation, is the dependent child coverage provision, which allows young adults like myself to stay on their parents’ plans until they’re 26 years old. According to a December poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 85 percent of Americans, including 82 percent of Republicans, have a favorable opinion of this mandate. It has been a comfort knowing that despite any potential financial crises I might experience as a student, or as a recent graduate, I wouldn’t have to worry about having health insurance. But with the swearing-in of a new president and some new members of Congress insistent on repealing the ACA, it feels like that comfort isn’t so secure — despite the fact that recent polls have shown the ACA has higher approval ratings than ever. The dependent child coverage provision both eases the burden on people during a financially stressful period of their lives, and makes for a healthier, more insured population. This is a law that specifically helps college-aged adults, and Republican and Democratic legislators alike should make it a priority to preserve this provision, whether it remains in the ACA or a different, future health care plan. “It was offered because of the changing nature of the workforce, and the probability that a 22- or 23-year-old person graduating from college might not be presented with a full-time job that had benefits,” said professor Robin Kolodny, the political science department chair. Jed Cainglet, a freshman computer science major, is currently insured through his parents, and he said he supports the dependent child coverage provision. “It’s extremely helpful for students who, after
graduation, are still looking for a job,” Cainglet said. “It gives us time to prepare to get our own insurance.” This is what makes the provision so valuable: people who formerly fell through the cracks, too old for their parents’ plan but too young to buy their own, can now more easily be insured. Megan Lehman, a freshman biology major, is currently insured through her parents. “Right now, I work to pay for school,” she said. “I’m planning on going to more school after this. I don’t think I would be able to afford [health insurance].” In 2008, when the ACA was being drafted, adults ages 18 to 25 had the highest uninsured rate of any age group in the country at 27.6 percent. By 2016, the rate had fallen to 14.8 percent. This sizable dent in the uninsured population should be proof enough that this provision is worth keeping. But despite the added benefits for young people, many Republicans have been insistent on repealing and replacing the ACA, citing rising premiums and a lack of competition between insurance providers. This potentially puts those covered by the dependent child coverage provision at risk, as the future of the ACA is called into question. It’s not clear what a new health care plan would mean for young adults or if there would be a gap in coverage as a new plan is instituted. Health insurance can be expensive and confusing — especially for financially insecure young adults. If the ACA is repealed, and young people need to find a different way to be insured, many will likely forgo insurance altogether. “The annual screening for things like your cholesterol and blood pressure will be lost,” Kolodny said. “If someone was going to develop a problem that was going to turn into something more significant, you’ve given up the opportunity to catch it in a visit.” The provision doesn’t exclusively help a largely uninsured population receive health care. Catherine Maclean, an economics professor, said it also has positive effects on the health care market. “The dependent coverage mandate brings young people into the market,” Maclean said. “Those people are on average healthier, have lower health care expenditures, and are less likely to get sick.” The health insurance market is complex and unpredictable. But on all counts, the dependent child coverage provision is valuable to citizens and insurers alike. Even if the future of the ACA comes into question by Republican lawmakers, the dependent child coverage provision should remain safeguarded for the sake of young people.
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FROM THE ARCHIVE
Feb. 10, 1977: The Temple News was the only morning newspaper to print in the city. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News did not print as employees continued to strike. About 800 reporters, editors, advertising salespeople and other employees participated in a walk out the previous day when their contract expired. Under a newly proposed contract, workers would have had to pay for health care benefits, which they previously did not have to do. On Thursday of the same week, picketers from the Inquirer and Daily News blocked the distribution center of The Evening Bulletin, leaving the city without news from Philadelphia’s three major daily newspapers. In response, The Temple News printed an expanded issue on Friday, Feb. 11, 1977, to include local, national and international news in addition to its normal coverage.
BETSY DEVOS
So what’s the deal with growth and proficiency? Honestly, someone tell me... I don’t know...
Stand-Up Comic Betsy DeVos
CHINEME ANIAGBA FOR THE TEMPLE NEWS
luke.mottola@temple.edu
EDUCATION
Skills needed, college attendance not required A college education isn’t the only way to find success after graduating high school.
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’m still not sure if I want to pursue a career in business or media after I graduate, but I’ve always known that a traditional, fouryear university was the best way to pursue either of these fields. For others, though, attending college isn’t necessary — or even the best option — for them to reach their career goals. There needs to be more conversation among parents, educators and young people about avenues for success that don’t require a four-year college degree. Trade or vocational schools are other options after high school, and so is jumping right into the workforce. “There is this ethos that everyone should get a college degree,” said Douglas Webber, an economics professor. “While it’s unquestionable that, on average, that’s good advice, everyone isn’t the avBRANDON erage person.” WALKER “It’s not the right advice for absolutely everybody,” Webber added. Kyle Blessing, a former music composition major, recently decided to take a leave of absence and pursue music on his own. After he attended Temple for five semesters, he decided college wasn’t the best choice for him. “I was already doing a lot of music stuff
outside of school which I was doing well,” Blessing said. “I just felt that more and more, I wasn’t doing what I wanted to be doing.” “Every time I’d be in school I’d feel stressed, and I would feel like I wasn’t producing as good music,” he added. “Basically, I felt like I could do better work on my own.” Blessing teaches music lessons, interns with Bowerbird, an arts management company in Philadelphia, and has a job booking shows and running studios at the venue The Fire. Clearly, a degree isn’t always necessary to pursue work in one’s desired field. William Stull, the economics department chair, agrees there are other paths to success that don’t require a college degree. “If [people] have the wherewithal to start a small business, you can make good money and live a respectable life without having to go to college,” Stull said. “There are electricians and plumbers that make good money, and we need those people.” Acquiring knowledge is necessary for all career paths, but a college degree is not the only way to gain expertise in a subject. “What we’re really talking about here is skills,” Stull said. “One way to acquire a certain set of skills is to go to college. Working in trades is another way to do it.” “But you can’t just loaf around,” Stull added. “You have to acquire skills that somebody is going to pay for.”
Many students are pressured by their parents to attend a traditional, four-year university. Oftentimes, these pressures don’t allow room for negotiation. This harvests the idea in adolescents that everyone must go to college. “I really understand parents’ concern
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ab out their children and wanting them to go to college, because they’re very worried,” Stull said. “They look at the outside world and see this big split between the income distribution. Most of the people above the line are college graduates.”
Alex Carpenter, a freshman psychology major, said her parents allowed her to choose if she wanted to go to college. But as far as her future career was concerned, no one ever asked her what she really wanted. “I changed my mind a lot growing up about what I wanted to do,” Carpenter said. “But it just so happened that every single one of those things called for a college degree.” “There is this stigma that college is a status symbol and that it’s the best thing you could shoot for as a high school graduate,” Carpenter added. “And then you’re seen as a lower ability if you choose a technical school. I don’t think that’s true. Frankly, we need intelligent people in every type of career.” Carpenter is right. Young people need to find a field they love — whatever it is — and dedicate themselves to doing that job to the best of their ability. Thus, parents and educators should emphasize acquiring skills, not simply earning a college diploma. When college is continuously presented as the only choice, students feel limited or guilty if it isn’t the right fit for them. Instead, when students are presented with reliable information about all the options for pursuing a career, they can make better decisions for themselves in the long run. brandon.walker@temple.edu
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