The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed a set of policies that would force college-contracted health care plans to comply with the same standards of service that the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has offered the American population on Wednesday, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. If passed, the new reform would become effective on Jan. 1, 2012, and would affect approximately 2,000 colleges and three million students across the country, according to The Chronicle. The federal government's proposal addresses concerns raised by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., and student activist groups that existing student health plans are insufficient. It is likely that the "next frontier" for regulation will be school's self-insured plans, which are currently regulated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Bryan A. Liang, executive director of the Institute of Health Law Studies at California Western School of Law, said in an interview with The Chronicle.
A consortium of college presidents expressed concerns to the Texas State Finance Committee that proposed budget cuts would seriously harm the state's higher education system, The Boston Globe reported. The state government is considering an approximately $700 million decrease in funds provided to higher education institutions as one step to address the estimated $15 billion deficit the state must confront, according to The Globe. College presidents believe the budget cuts would hinder schools' abilities to draw in the best professors, The Globe reported. If these changes are enacted, nearly 100,000 low-income students would no longer receive financial aid, representatives from The Center for Public Policy Priorities said in interviews with The Globe.
A new state regulation that could cause up to 20,000 college students in Michigan to become ineligible for food stamps will be implemented this spring, The Detroit News reported. Maura D. Corrigan, director of the Michigan Department of Human Services, which manages the program, said the change was made to prevent students from abusing a system intended to act as a "temporary safety net," Detroit News reported. Despite concerns that college students have cheated the system, studies by the Office of the Inspector General have found that college students are no more likely to attempt to falsify claims in the food stamp system than any other set of beneficiaries, according to Detroit News. Under the new policy, students will be unable to get food stamps unless they qualify for the program under certain federal exceptions, Detroit News reported.
