Obama Signs Health Care, Student Loan Changes Into Law

President Obama on Tuesday signed into law the final piece of health care reform legislation — a bill that also included a package of reforms to the student financial aid lending system.

The president signed the legislation in a ceremony at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Va., where he was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden’s wife Jill Biden, who teaches at the college. The president said the new student lending law will end a “sweetheart deal” for banks.

“We’re finally making our student loan system work for students and families,” he said.

The bill the president signed, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, is a sort of coda to the main health care reform law the president signed last week — it includes changes negotiated by the House and Senate to the original Senate reform bill.

In the reconciliation process, legislators also decided to add the student lending reform measure — which had previously been a separate bill — to the reconciliation legislation.

Previously, the federal government had used most of its spending on student loans to subsidize banks to provide the loans. The new law will cut out the banks’ role, and instead use that money to make direct loans to students. It will also provide $2 billion in federal funding for community colleges.

“We’re redirecting money that was poorly spent to make sure that we’re making investments in our future,” the president said.

On the health care law, we recently asked NewsHour regular Susan Dentzer of the journal Health Affairs to answer some of your questions on the measure. You can find that post here.

Last week, Susan discussed how the bill will change the private insurance market in the United States:

And she explained what it will mean for the uninsured:

And last Thursday, NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner discussed the changes in store for Medicare:

Stay tuned for more explanation and analysis of the new law.