UT
NIVERSITY IMES
Nov. 17, 2014
www.csulauniversitytimes.com
C A L I F O R N I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y, L O S A N G E L E S
Issue 207.8
INSIDE:
LA ONDA: PERIODISMO EN ESPAñOL
Cal State L.A.'s Health Insurance Education Project provides information to students about the new health insurance system and their options under the Affordable Care Act.
PG 10
NEW CHIEF OF POLICE ON CAMPUS HAS IDEAS PG 3
I-10 FREEWAY RENAMED PG 2
SPORTS: INTRAMURALS, WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL, PG 9
NO SHAVE NOVEMBER PG 12
NEW CAMPUS WIFI PG 15
BROADWAY'S RENT AT CAL STATE L.A. PG 6/7
Alta Med, an enrollment entity experienced in helping undocumented individuals obtain health services. With this strong partnership, the goal is to educate students and their family members— to ultimately empower and promote the well-being of this large underserved population.
Eidref Laxa Kristen Mar Daniela Nina Dr. Walter Zelman
Contributors The new health insurance law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in 2010. Among other things, the new law expands Medicaid, the nation’s program of lowincome individuals and families to include adults without children. The new law also offers substantial financial assistance to individuals who earn too much to be eligible for Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid, but not enough to afford the cost of insurance. To implement the new law, especially the provision offering financial assistance to individuals, California created Covered California, a new online marketplace where people could learn about their options and enroll in the insurance plan of their choice. The CSU Health Insurance Education Project (HIEP) was created to assist CSU students in learning about their new insurance options. Funded by a grant from Covered California, and housed at CSULA, CSU HIEP has been educating CSU students about the new insurance system and their options under the ACA. According to a Public Affairs’ article “CSU Insurance Enrollment Project Reports Dramatic Reductions in the Numbers of Uninsured CSU Students,”during the first open enrollment period, the project achieved considerable success, reducing the numbers of uninsured students on the 15 largest CSU campuses by about 60%. That was great progress, but
Photo Courtesy | CSU Health Insurance Education Project at least 10% of students are still uninsured. This number doesn’t include new transfer students. More importantly, limited funding forced the project to focus on the largest CSU campuses, meaning that the project was unable to educate students on almost half of CSU campuses. The larger campuses were staffed with student coordinators to hold classroom presentations, run educational forums, plan enrollment events, and participate in other educational activities. Cal State LA was included in this group, with coordinators holding educational forums and enrollment events in the newly established Dream Center located inside the EOP office. Last year, Cal State LA was faced with the challenge
of having the campus with the highest rate of uninsured students (19%). With a large population of lowincome students, as well as undocumented individuals, campus coordinators are faced with the same objective of raising awareness for health insurance options, except with less time. This year, CSU HIEP coordinators at Cal State LA will work closely with the Dream Center in order to reach out to more undocumented individuals to inform them about their health insurance options. The aim is to raise awareness for AB-540 students who have received DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Effective this year, those students are now eligible for full-scope Medical. The coordinators will also collaborate with
In the spring of 2014 HIEP conducted a poll on seven of the campuses on which it had placed student coordinators. Results found that about onethird of CSU students on the staffed campuses signed up for Covered California or Medi-Cal. About one-third of students reported that at least one family member signed up for Covered California or Medi-Cal. The poll also found that the main reason students had been uninsured was affordability, a problem the Affordable Care Act may resolve. It was also clear that many students were still uninsured because they were thinking, ‘I do not know enough about insurance or how to get it.’ As campuses gear up for another open enrollment period, November 15 to February 15, HIEP wants to try to reach all CSU students on CSU campuses. Campus enrollment services will be available this year on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 12:30p.m. to 5p.m. Student Affairs (EOP), Room 214, 2nd Floor, Dream Resource Center beginning on the week of open enrollment. HIEP encourages all students to learn about their new opportunities to access insurance and about Covered California and to discuss the new options with their families. The new system may be of great value to them as well. You can learn more at www.coveredca.com/ and at the special CSU website at www.calstate.edu/coveredca/.