Last night, while the capital city quieted down after a long weekend of  marches against the war and rallies in support of immigration reform, members of the House were in the Capitol casting their votes on a historic piece of legislation.

The bill for health care reform has been making its rounds through Congress for the past year, and the House made its final vote to pass reform last night, with 219 Democrats voting in favor of the legislation (34 Democrats voted no).  The House passed not only the Senate health care bill which will become law by the stroke of Obama’s pen tomorrow, but they also voted on a “clean up” bill that includes budget-related provisions aimed at strengthening the original legislation. The “clean up” bill, or the reconciliation package, was passed with 220 votes. The only steps that remain now are for the President to sign the legislation and the Senate to pass the reconciliation bill too, which is expected by the end of this week.

The final passage of these bills is particularly significant for young Americans for two reasons; the first is that millions of young adults will be able to access health insurance through several affordable options (outlined below) and will no longer have to worry about losing or being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The second reason is one that may have easily been overlooked by many Americans following the health care debate. Just a couple weeks ago Congress inserted the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) into the reconciliation package that was passed last night. SAFRA is a bill that will eliminate wasteful subsidies given to student lenders and put that money – $67 billion to be precise- into the student aid system and increase Pell grants. Putting students over banks, basically.  SAFRA passed the House last year and was on its way to being killed in the Senate until it was saved by being included in the reconciliation bill.

So in one vote, Democrats passed two pillars of reform.

What does all of this mean for you? Other than the historic step forward in reforming both our health care and education systems, young adults will benefit greatly and those benefits will kick in soon.  Check out this statement from Campus Progress and the Y.I. Want Change Coalition for how this bill will impact young adults:

Immediate Health Care Benefits for Young Adults

90 Days After Passage (June 2010)

• Access to insurance through a temporary “high-risk pool” for Americans who were denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. This will benefit the 15 percent of young Americans who suffer from chronic conditions.

6 Months After Date of Passage (September 2010)

• Allow young Americans to remain on their parents’ health insurance until their 26th birthday. Over 2 million previously uninsured young adults will benefit from this provision.
• Prohibit health plans from dropping individuals’ coverage when they get sick.
• Ban lifetime limits on covered benefits.
• Prohibit restrictive annual limits on benefits (all annual limits banned by 2014).
• Require pre-deductible preventive care services with no cost-sharing under all new plans (applies to all existing plans by 2018).

January 1, 2011

• Require all plans to spend 80 percent (for small/individual plans) or 85 percent (for large group plans) of premiums on medical services. Those who fail to do so must submit rebates to consumers.

Benefits After Full Implementation (January 1, 2014)

• Expand Medicaid to cover every American earning less than 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), providing coverage to 9 million currently uninsured young adults.
• Provide tax credits for purchasing health insurance to individuals who lack employer-provided insurance and earn less than 400 percent of the FPL.
• Ban denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
• Limit insurance companies to charging older adults no more than three times the insurance premiums of younger adults.
• Establish state insurance exchanges to facilitate market competition and enforce minimum benefit standards.

Immediate College Affordability Benefits

• 500,000 students will not lose their Pell grants, and Pell grant awards would not be cut by 60% for the millions of other students in the program. Instead, the maximum Pell grant award would increase to $5,550.
• All new federal student loans will be originated through the Direct Student Loan program, as opposed to the Federal Family Education Loan program, which offers large subsidies to banks that function as middlemen in the student loan process.
• Students should notice little if any change to the process of getting a loan, or on the terms of the loans. When they enter repayment, however, their loans will not be sold off to other companies, and there will be greater oversight by the Department of Education over loan servicing.
• The biggest benefit: this will save $61 billion over ten years, which funds most of the other benefits for students in the reconciliation bill.
• Begin a five year $750 million investment into the College Access Challenge Grant.
• Congress would begin its ten year $2.55 billion investment in minority serving institutions and historically black colleges and universities.

These benefits, however, are just the beginning of the kind of change young progressives hope to accomplish. Make no mistake, this bill suffered through endless industry lobbying efforts, political bickering and compromises, and the end result leaves out many issues that young Americans care about and fight for everyday. The fact is that this health care system still has a long way to go in terms of providing true universal coverage for all through a public option or a single-payer system, adequately including women’s rights, protecting the LGBTQ community, strengthening access for minority communities and undocumented immigrants and improving affordability for young and low-income adults.  The passage of this bill is just the first step down that road, and one that advocates have been working for for decades.  So while some might be disappointed with things lost throughout the long debate in this bill, take this minute to remember that there are millions of Americans that are sitting in their homes right now sighing with relief and happiness that they will now be able to afford college or finally buy health insurance after being denied all these years.  Now we have a strong foundation for change that we can all continue to build on.

For more about the health care bill, click here.  For more on how the bill will affect you, click here.