Obamacare added 6.6 million young adults to parents’ health care
Students walk across the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California. According to a May 22, 2012 International Labor Organization report the global youth unemployment rate will rise to 12.7 percent this year and remain there until 2016.
Roughly 6.6 million young adults below the age of 26 were able to join their parents' health insurance plans in 2011 because of the health care reform law signed by President Obama, reported Bloomberg.
A survey conducted by Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based nonprofit, showed that the part of the law that lets young people stay on their parents' plans until the age of 26 led to the largest single year increase in medical coverage for the age group, according to Bloomberg.
Almost 40 percent of young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 did not have health insurance during some point in 2011, said CBS News citing the report.
Around 36 percent of young adults had medical bill issues or were paying off medical debt, and of those 43 percent faced serious financial troubles, 32 percent couldn't pay their student loans and tuition, 31 percent put their education or career on hold and 28 percent could not afford necessities like food, rent and heat because of medical bills, according to CBS News.
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The survey polled 1,863 people to represent the 46.6 million adults between the ages of 19 and 29 in the US, according to Reuters.
The 6.6 million young adults who were helped by Affordable Care Act were part of a larger group of 13.7 million who stayed on or joined their parents' health plans, said CBS News. Before the act was passed, children could only remain on their parents' insurance until the age of 19, or 22 if they were full-time students.
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"The economy is absolutely a factor in both the large number of adults who are without health insurance and likely the number coming onto their parents’ policies," said Sara Collins, vice president of Commonwealth Fund, according to Bloomberg.
The provision to cover young adults was viewed favorably by 71 percent of those polled by the Kaiser Family Foundation, while the health care law as a whole only garnered an approval rating of 37 percent, said Bloomberg.
The US Supreme Court is reviewing the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act which includes a mandate requiring individuals to purchase health care in order to spread the cost of insuring everyone. The Supreme Court's ruling is expected by the end of June, said Reuters.
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