How many of these students voted for Obama?

Red Alert Politics reports.

Grad students could lose health insurance due to Obamacare regs

The latest Affordable Care Act implementation problem is bad news for thousands of graduate students across the country, whose student health insurance plans will soon be cancelled unless the Obama administration steps in to clarify the latest regulations.

Until now, many universities have provided graduate students with student health insurance plans at little or no cost as part of a benefits package. However, earlier this year, the IRS issued a notice that said providing subsidized health insurance for graduate students was an impermissible “premium reduction agreement” as part of an “employer payment plan.”

The new IRS guidance, which intended to prevent employers from eluding the ACA’s employer mandate, said small businesses and universities that reimburse employee’s healthcare premiums would be fined $36,500 a year per employee.

The confusion is now whether graduate students who hold jobs as teaching assistants or research assistants can be considered employees of the university.

As the upcoming school year draws closer, many universities are unclear how to proceed with their student health insurance plans.

A group of Senate Democrats is urging the Obama administration to allow universities to continue to provide subsidized coverage to their graduate students.

Democrats point out that “under the Student FICA Exception, the IRS widely recognized that it makes no sense for a student who is engaged in paid services that are ‘incident to and for the purposes of pursuing a course of study’ to pay FICA taxes. Similarly, it makes no sense to penalize universities for offering students access to low-cost, high-quality health coverage when it is provided while they are pursuing a course of study.”