By Angela Jacob

For The Diamondback

Two University of Maryland researchers helped work on a study released May 16 that examined the effects of the Affordable Care Act’s extended coverage for college and post-college students, and found the program lifted a large financial burden off people in this age demographic, especially those suffering from mental health issues.

Under the ACA, which started on a limited basis in 2010 and was fully extended in 2014, young adults can remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until they turn 26. Before the ACA, health insurers could remove young adults from their parents’ plans solely because of their age, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

“The age group of 22 to 26 was a vulnerability for the previous system,” said Alex Tobin, a sophomore government and politics major. “Lots of times, college kids and those who have just graduated aren’t going to have immediate access to employment and insurance provided by employers. They’re kind of in this in-between area.”

Jie Chen, one of the study’s lead researchers along with doctoral student Priscilla Novak, said she used the study to identify the ACA’s financial impact on the 19- to 26-year-old age group, specifically focusing on access to mental health and substance abuse treatment. She noted there are 2.5 million young adults ages in this age group with behavioral health disorders who are eligible for “dependents’ coverage.”

The old health care system completely separated mental health and physical health, said Chen, who is also a professor at this university’s public health school. Despite mental health disorders topping the list in 2013 of the most costly conditions with $201 billion in spending, prior general health insurance rarely covered any type of mental health treatment. Because of the higher costs, many people typically don’t have access to mental health care, Chen said.

“This study focused on people with mental and behavioral disorders,” Chen said. “We actually found that that [19 to 26-year-old population] has been protected, and there is a significant reduction in young adults who have to pay 100 percent or over 75 percent of their health expenditures.”

Chen noted a 46 percent reduction in the likelihood of having “catastrophic costs” for young adults aged 19- to 25 who benefited from this expansion, compared to adults in the 17- to 29-year-old age group.

The extended coverage helps bring the conversation of increasing financial aid for those with mental health issues problems to the forefront, said James Mott, a senior anthropology and government and politics major.

“When you have many individuals who don’t have treatment for mental health issues and then you introduce the dependency part of the ACA, that helps put a springboard on the issue so that lawmakers can go further and … make it more comprehensive,” Mott said.

Although Congress is divided on the ACA as a whole, this step in the right direction shouldn’t be overlooked, Chen said.

“The Republican and Democratic politicians all try to work together to fight against the mental health crisis. … It’s a priority,” said Chen, citing the recent Senate Summit on Mental Health: A Call to Action for Comprehensive Mental Health Reform, which took place in late May.

While progress has been made in giving more people health care access through this extended coverage, Tobin acknowledged: “The Affordable Care Act put a Band-Aid on a gushing wound.”

The ACA “doesn’t do enough and that health care should be a right, and we’re going to continue to see health care problems, even for our age group, until we get a single-payer health care system,” he said.

The program has taken steps to ensure that people have more access to mental health care, Chen said, but she emphasized the need for a system where both mental health and physical health can be integrated. Until that happens, Chen is calling for more advertisement about the facilities that are currently available to those who might be struggling from a mental illness.

On this university’s campus, students have access to services such as the Counseling Center and the University Health Center’s mental health services.