As economic changes lead to countless reforms being proposed, health care is at the forefront in the political arena.

Health insurance reform is an issue that surpasses the divides of political affiliation.

Regardless of party, officials have recognized a strong correlation between young American adults and those who are uninsured.

The University does not require all students to be insured. At a time when 30 percent of young adults in the country lack coverage, several colleges such as Ohio State University and the University of Connecticut, require students to be insured.

But out of the 25,467 undergraduate students at the University, only a small percentage of students have a mandatory health insurance policy.

“Undergraduates who are pharmacy students or international students are required to have a health plan. All other undergraduate students have a choice of whether to go under the voluntary plan, an alternative insurance plan or none at all,” said Lydia Lanier, associate director in the Office of Human Resources.

The three types of plans available at the University are the mandatory undergraduate plan, which only applies to pharmacy or international students; the mandatory graduate plan, which applies only to international students or students with a qualified graduate assistantship, fellowship or training; and the voluntary health plan for all other students who do not fall under the mandatory plans.

The option to forgo health insurance has led many students to do just that.

“I am not on health insurance and choose not to purchase the voluntary plan that UGA offers because it just costs too much. With all the other fees I have to pay here, I am forced to give up health insurance,” said Nishi Lad, a junior from Cartersville.

According to Meena Seshamani, the director of policy analysis at the HHS Office of Health Reform in Washington, D.C., “two-thirds of young adults who had an age gap in coverage said they had forgone needed health care because of cost.”

The fall 2009 cost for health insurance through the University’s voluntary plan is $733.

For spring and summer semesters, the combined price is $969.

Many students enter the University as dependents of their parents, thus still insured by their parents’ plan. When they turn 19, this source of security vanishes.

Some insurance plans give the option to full time students to continue coverage as a dependent under their parent’s name for a few more years, but many others do not.

“The issue for young adults is that they are no longer covered under their parents’ plan, but they do not have the type of job that offers health insurance. This group tends to fall through the cracks of access to health insurance,” said Phaedra Corso, department head of Health Policy and Management at the University’s College of Public Health.

Students are more likely to work part-time than full-time, and the insurance benefits for part-time employees are limited.

“Among the unemployed, young adults are also more likely to be uninsured than older adults – 36 percent versus 23 percent. This is in part because young adults are less than half as likely to be married, making it difficult to find insurance through a spouse’s employer,” Seshamani said.

Along with high cost and lack of coverage, another reason some college students abstain from health insurance is their feeling of invincibility.

“Many young people have this idea that nothing bad will happen to them. It is a sense of being invincible from health problems. They just don’t find health insurance necessary,” Lanier said.

Both Lanier and Corso said the way to get more students at the University on health insurance is by mandating it for all students, like at some other universities.

The government has made several attempts to reform health insurance for young American adults. The Senate Finance Committee has provisions to extend Medicaid coverage to include young adults without children.

A proposal from the House of Representatives has plans to allow parents to claim children as dependents until the age of 26.

“The idea of insuring young adults is something that both parties care about. I don’t see this as a Republican or Democratic issue. Both groups think that young adults should have access to health insurance, one way or another,” Corso said.