The Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new regulation Wednesday that will ensure students who are enrolled in health insurance through their college or university will benefit from critical consumer protections created by the Affordable Care Act.

Students who obtain health insurance through their college or university would not be able to lose their insurance or have a cap put on it unexpectedly if they are in an accident or get sick.

Today, many student health plans only offer limited benefits and give low annual dollar limits for health care. 

About 1,500–2,000 colleges and universities across the nation offer some kind of health insurance plan. Many people will purchase student health plans if a family plan is unavailable or unaffordable. Many students have no other option but to purchase health insurance through their schools even though those plans often have a low amount of benefits and are not well regulated.

The following protections would be put on student health care plans:

• No lifetime limits on coverage — Companies will not be able to put dollar limits on health care.
• No dropping of coverage — Companies will not be able to drop a student if he/she gets sick or unintentionally makes a mistake on an application.
• No pre-existing condition exclusions for students under 19 — Companies cannot deny or exclude inusrance to students under 19 if they have a pre-existing condition they need for which they need coverage.

For more information, visit the Department of Health and Human Services website.