What health care reform being overturned will mean for the younger generation
One of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions has made it possible for young adults to retain the coverage they’ve had from their parents’ health insurance plans until they turn 26, but if insurance news headlines show that the reforms will be overturned, individuals within the later part of that age group will suddenly find themselves out of luck.
Upon graduating from high school or college, many young adults struggle to find employment that includes health benefits, especially in the current economic situation. Without this coverage, people in this age group are finding themselves without the means to obtain screening tests or even to receive important medical treatments.
Since the Affordable Care Act went into effect in September 2010, young adults have been benefitting from their parents’ coverage and have been receiving the treatment that they need. In fact, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it is estimated that an additional 2.5 million people between the ages of 19 and 25 were suddenly able to receive care that they may not have been able to afford without the coverage.
Before the law took effect, there were 13.7 million young adult Americans who did not have insurance.
Statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that overall, those young adults represented one in every three people in the country who did not have insurance at that time.
Unfortunately, those same individuals who have only just received this coverage may find that it is suddenly removed once more if the U.S. Supreme Court decides that the Affordable Care Act’s reforms to the healthcare system are unconstitutional. Though that law was scheduled to take full effect in 2014, it could be struck down as soon as June of this year.
At the heart of the Supreme Court Case is the central element of the healthcare reforms…
which involves the individual mandate that requires all Americans to purchase health care insurance. Though this mandate is not connected to the provision that allows individuals under the age of 26 to benefit from their parents’ health insurance, the Court may choose to overturn the law as a whole, as opposed to just the mandate. From that point, the insurance news would have turned around to show that those millions of young adults have found themselves uninsured, once more.
Article: Latest shows young adults will suffer without changes from healthcare reform
Article Source: Live Insurance News
Author: Shaun Nordstrom
Latest shows young adults will suffer without changes from healthcare reform
