Littered throughout the media is coverage of the Supreme Court’s review of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Students should be able to see how the act benefits the greater good — even in our unique situation. Many students have already felt relieved of the burden of insurance premiums now that students can stay on their parents’ plan until 26 and other benefits of the ACA can also already be seen in action here on campus.

As the director of Boynton Health Service has said, since the University of Minnesota mandates health insurance coverage for all students on campus — the principle that the Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments on regarding the ACA — the University’s health costs have not seen the 10 to 20 percent increases like the voluntary programs at universities nationwide. Health costs won’t be increasing for students next year, and the mandate is why.

With nationally mandated coverage, the ACA ensures that not only people who need insurance seek it, sending the system into its “death spiral,” but rather that everyone is covered, there are no free riders and risk is spread to all.

Another feature of the University’s health plan is that there is no middle man and 98 percent of premiums are paid out to health services, similar to a smart provision in the ACA that requires insurance companies to make sure their revenue is directed toward care rather than profits or advertising.

The ACA is a positive step forward that sets up our health care system on a long road toward an eventual single-payer model which could slow the growth of our gargantuan health care costs.