Health Reforms Called a “Graduation Gift” for Young Adults Who Lack Insurance

Abstract

SEVERAL PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH care reform legislation that Congress passed in March are likely to improve uninsured young adults’ access to health care while helping them launch careers and independent lives with fewer fears of medical debt. A recent report by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports health policy and health system reform research, shows that 13.7 million young adults aged 19 to 29 years are uninsured, comprising about 30% of the estimated 46 million individuals without coverage. Sara Collins, PhD, a vice president at the Fund and lead author of the report, said the number of uninsured young adults has increased every year since 2003, when the Fund published its first report on young adults’ health insurance status. In 2009, Collins said, 76% of uninsured young adults did not get the health care they needed because of cost. Also, 46% of uninsured young adults with a chronic health problem reported that their condition had worsened in the previous 12 months as a result of not getting timely care. An estimated 11.3 million young adults, both insured and uninsured, were paying medical debts over time; of those, half had asked family members for financial help. About one-third delayed education or career plans and 39% could not meet other obligations, such as paying off school loans, because of medical debt (http://www .commonwealthfund.org/Content /Publications/Issue-Briefs/2010/May /Rite-of-Passage-Young-Adults-and-the -Affordable-Care-Act-of-2010.aspx). Young adults go through life transitions that make them particularly vulnerable to being uninsured. Many have jobs without health insurance or are unemployed. Individual insurance likely is unaffordable. Eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program ends at age 19 years, and high school or college graduation discontinues coverage on parents’ health plans. Health reform legislation, Collins said, “is in many ways a graduation gift to many young adults.”