New Report Details How Health Reform Will Help 15 Million Uninsured Young Adults
<p>Young adults continue to represent one of the largest groups of Americans without health insurance, with nearly 15 million people ages 19 to 29 uninsured in 2009—an increase of more than 1 million over 2008, according to a Commonwealth Fund <a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2010/oct/realizing-health-reforms-potential-young-adults-and-affordable" target="_blank">issue brief</a> released today. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, however, this group is expected to see big gains: up to 12.1 million could potentially gain subsidized insurance once all of the law's provisions go into effect in 2014. </p>
<p>The study, <a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2010/oct/realizing-health-reforms-potential-young-adults-and-affordable" target="_blank">Realizing Health Reform's Potential: Young Adults and the Affordable Care Act of 2010</a>, updates an earlier Fund report with new numbers to reflect the latest census data on the number of uninsured Americans. According to authors Sara R. Collins, Ph.D., and Jennifer L. Nicholson, by 2014, when most health reform provisions will have taken effect, up to 7.2 million uninsured young adults will gain coverage through state Medicaid expansions and up to 4.9 million will gain subsidized private coverage through new insurance exchanges. And about 1 million uninsured young adults up to age 26 are projected to join their parents' policies beginning in 2010. </p>
<p>This report is the fourth in an <a href="~/link.aspx?_id=F4EDA1AE78A944BEA80198B614439375&_z=z" target="_blank">ongoing series</a> of Commonwealth Fund briefs that explain how health reform will benefit different populations and groups, as well as improve insurance coverage and change the delivery of care. For more research and analysis on health reform, visit the Fund's new <a href="/Health-Reform/Health-Reform-Resource.aspx" target="_blank">Health Reform Resource Center</a>. <br /></p>