Health care reform concepts and policy

Health Care Reform

Healthcare reform

Current national health care coverage component: Impact on young people (ages 18 to 26)

Historically, young adults have a greater likelihood of being uninsured than their older counterparts. They are just starting out in their careers, and often must take jobs with minimal benefits to secure a position. Because they are young and healthy, they may feel that purchasing health insurance is not worth the cost, or simply cannot afford it because of the expense of their costs of living and the need to pay off their student loans. The rate of uninsured young people was particularly high in the wake of the recent recession, given that many college graduates were forced to take substandard jobs or could not find work after graduation.

In light of this, one of the most popular components of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was allowing young people to remain on their parent's insurance up to the age of 26. This provision was designed to increase insurance coverage in the nation as a whole and was also reflective of the period of 'extended adolescence' more and more twentysomethings are experiencing today. The passage of the law had a dramatic impact upon the number of young people who are insured in America: "According to the National Health Interview Survey, 33.9% of people between the ages of 19 and 25 lacked health insurance in 2010. The following year, after the Obamacare provision had taken effect, that number dropped to 27.9%. By the CDC's estimates, that means 1.6 million young people gained coverage between 2010 and 2011" (Culp-Ressler 2012).

On a very basic level, this is a positive provision of the ACA because it increases the chance that this underserved segment of the American public will still have health insurance after leaving college and be able to obtain basic, preventative care that could prevent disease later in life (and additional, unnecessary costs to the healthcare system). Remaining on their parent's insurance will also underline to young people the importance of health insurance, and they will be less likely to think of themselves as able to do without it, simply because of their age. It establishes a 'post-graduation routine' of coverage. Finally, to keep national healthcare costs down, it is vital that there are healthy people in the 'risk pool' represented by insurance companies, to defray the costs of insuring the elderly and chronically ill.

In terms of the 'negatives' of Obamacare for young people, some young people over the age of 26 may resist the fact that the individual mandate requires them to purchase health insurance if it is not provided by their employer. (Although there are certain hardship exemptions to the individual mandate, based upon income, and there are no mandates that individuals have to purchase a particular level of coverage). And that is one problem with the extension of the limit to age 26 -- while it does increase the number of covered Americans, it does not address the fundamental problem that many low-level and part-time entry-level jobs do not provide health benefits, and fewer jobs in general in America are providing benefits.