Health Care Reform: Students Approve
A Yale Daily News columnist called the health care reform bill "one for all Americans." A writer in the Daily Iowan said it represents "substantial progress." And the Minnesota Daily's editorial board provided its own take, invoking a meat grinder metaphor to American law-making:
After "reconciliation," "granny's plug" and "sweetheart deals," one can't help but see health care reform through the fatty, yellowed lens of a sausage casing. It has been said laws are like sausages: It is better not to see them being made.
But even they agreed that the passage of the health care legislation was historic -- especially for students.
As Simeon Talley writes in the Iowan:
As a demographic cohort, young people are more likely to be uninsured than any other group. Many youth forgo purchasing health insurance not because they think they're "invincible," but rather because they simply can't afford it. Transitioning from college to the workforce has become increasingly challenging. Affording rent, student-loan payments, and possibly health insurance -- it's nearly impossible.
Under the bill, young people will be able to stay insured on their parents' coverage until the age of 26. For those who can't afford insurance still -- because everyone will be required to purchase it -- they'll be provided a subsidy.
And on top of increased health care availability for the young and underemployed, the passage of the bill means sweeping changes to America's student loan program. The Associated Press reports:
The bill rewrites a four-decades-old student loan program, eliminating its reliance on private lenders and uses the savings to direct $36 billion in new spending to Pell Grants for students in financial need.
The student loan bill is set to hit the Senate next week.
What do you think of health care reform?
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The Huffington Post First Posted: 05/22/10 06:12 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 04:55 PM ET