“SHIP” 2012: Mandatory Health Insurance for College Applicants

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January, 2012
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. Students trying to enter Georgia colleges this year will have to prove they’re covered by a health insurance policy. Until now, University System students paid a fee to use health clinics, but the federal government is implementing a mandatory Student Health Insurance Program (SHIP) for applicants not covered by policies that meet university standards.

Last February 9th the federal Department of Health and Human Services proposed the SHIP regulation under authority of Obamacare, which was authorized in two federal laws that passed in 2010 – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. The federal government allowed public comment on the new SHIP regulations until April 12th last year.

A December 14th press release from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the percentage of adults 19 through 25 years of age covered by private health insurance had increased 2.5 million since September 2010, probably due to young adults that were added to their parents’ polcies. That number will increase even more under this new HHS federal mandate at colleges and universities.

During last year’s legislative session, H.B. 476 was introduced to establish the Georgia Health Exchange Authority and it passed a House subcommittee before opposition caused the governor to pull it from the process. But it was held over for action in the 2012 session and, if it passes this year, it will put the state into the health insurance business to comply with Obamacare, which is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. So this is the situation. Nine Supreme Court justices will decide whether citizens of the United States can be forced to buy health insurance.

If H.B. 476 should become law and the Supreme Court should strike down Obamacare, the federal mandate would be gone, but Georgians could be faced with state-mandated medical coverage that would put state bureaucrats between the patient and the doctor. On the other hand, if the Court upholds Obamacare, it wouldn’t take effect until 2014 and states have until 2013 to present a solid plan.

So, H.B. 476 is premature. It could put the state into the health insurance business before it’s necessary. The Obama administration, could interpret passage of H.B. 476 as a sign of political weakness in the state of Georgia. Call Representative Richard Smith’s Insurance Committee at 404 463-1673* and ask him to keep H.B. 476 in his committee. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.