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Making Healthcare Great Again?

by Christopher Stahl

Blackburn College used to offer health insurance to any student that needed it, but it has discontinued the offer. Frankly, with the current changes the government is wanting to implement to health care reform, I believe that health insurance is something that every college should offer to students in case people who have state-funded health care are taken off it because of budget cuts or changes to the bill. As an incoming freshman, I remember having to fill out a paper asking me if I had insurance. If I didn’t, I would be put on the insurance Blackburn offered. Now, though, I am currently without insurance. Not because of Blackburn but because of the state. As a student who has lived in a low income household my entire life, medicaid and the Affordable Care Act were godsends to me. It helped with any medical related bills my mother and I had.

President Donald Trump campaigned on repealing former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which was popularly nicknamed “Obamacare.” Although unable to do this, Trump has done his best to roll back the law by cancelling ads for it, shortening the application availability time and decreasing funding. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) website, “Overall, including all provisions affecting Medicaid, CBO estimates that spending for the program would be reduced by $160 billion in 2026 compared with projections under current law.” Because of this, there are currently people that are without the help of state-funded health insurance. Two of those people happen to be my mother and I.

Hoping Blackburn still offered healthcare, I went to student life office manager Debbie O’Brien to talk about it, but I found out that it is no longer offered. I have been without health insurance since July of this year when I turned 19. I was told that I was too old to be on my mother’s medicaid, which is understandable, but I received no notification of this. My mother also had to renew her medicaid and, even though her income has not changed in the past few years, she did not qualify. I did not even qualify as a college student who has no income.

I have to visit the doctor regularly and purchase medication for depression. This has affected my mother and I, burdening us with bills that we are unable to afford. According to Vice President for Administration and Finance Steve Morris, “Last year we took a look at the type of coverage being offered to students [which was] accident and sickness coverage. We looked at the cost of the coverage compared to what benefited students. We looked at the value students were receiving, and we weren’t sure if it made sense for students going forward to have that additional charge on their student accounts . . . We decided it would be one less fee to put on students’ accounts.” He went on to say that Obamacare also played a role in this by letting more students “get more comprehensive coverage than what they would get from an accident and sickness program.”

There is a possibility that this offer will come back if Trump continues to weaken and, possibly repeal, Obamacare. As stated before, I feel as if Blackburn should offer healthcare to all students, though it should not be a required fee that all students have to pay. Instead, it should be an optional fee that is added onto students’ tuition that choose to have it.

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