New Rules to Deliver Options For 14,700 Young Adults in Wisconsin

WISPIRG

A provision of the new federal health care law that goes into effect today will allow 2.4 million young adults in Wisconsin to remain on their parent’s health insurance plan until age 26, according to Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG).

WISPIRG marked the day at an event on the downtown campus of Milwaukee Area Technical College by releasing The Young Person’s Guide to Health Insurance, a consumer guide which offers information about the rights and options available to young people and their families under the new law.  The guide helps young people understand health care terms and coverage options, and also includes an introduction from President Barack Obama.

As evidence of the importance of the reforms, Claudia Jankowski, a student at MATC shared her experience. While a student at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Claudia’s father paid into the system and obtained health coverage for her, just as he had done her whole life.  Then, at age 19, the need to care for an ailing grandparent forced Claudia to leave school.  Her health insurance company however wouldn’t allow her to continue with her current family plan (being over 18 and out of school), and so dropped her. Individual plans she looked at were far more expensive than the rates she’d had her whole life, and were out of reach.  The same health insurance she’d always had became unaffordable for Claudia overnight, so she went without it. “With these reforms enacted, I’m now back on my father’s insurance plan and recently went for a physical that I’d had to delay for years,” said Jankowski.

State Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) also discussed the importance of these changes at the event. “While Wisconsin has made tremendous strides to emerge as a leader in healthcare across the nation, I believe the Affordable Care Act takes a very significant first step in fixing our nation’s fundamentally broken healthcare system,” said Rep. Pasch, a nurse for over 30 years and Vice-Chair of the Assembly Public Health Committee.  “Namely, the changes that go into effect today have tremendous benefits for young adults across the state, providing increased access to quality healthcare that they need and deserve.”

Today’s event is the launch of WISPIRG’s efforts to educate young people on their new rights and coverage options.  WISPIRG plans to distribute the guide on campus and has posted the guide online at http://www.wispirgstudents.org/healthcare.

WISPIRG Program Associate, Shannon Nelson, summed up the event stating, “The one thing that we want young people to know is that they now have options when it comes to health insurance”.