Young Adults Without Health Insurance
By Jim Van Wyck | August 8, 2007
Approximately 30% of our nation’s 44.5 million uninsured are young adults between the ages of 19 and 29.
A Commonwealth Fund study found 13.3 million people in this demographic lacked coverage in 2005, bumping up from 12.9 million in 2004.
This lack of coverage endangers the health of these young adults. Financial stress is undoubtedly added, just as they start out their working lives.
In my opinion, this represents a large and growing opportunity for an enterprising company to market individual health insurance to this young and healthy group.
The advantages of permanent, portable, low-premium coverage are substantial, especially considered in the current environment of soaring group health insurance premiums, diminishing employer contributions, and the need for substantial reform in the health care system.
What company will step forward and specialize in this market?
Anyone?
*********
Rite of Passage? Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help
Overview
Young
adults (ages 19 to 29) are one of the largest segments of the U.S.
population without health insurance: 13.3 million lacked coverage in
2005. Young adults often lose coverage at age 19 or upon high school or
college graduation. Nearly two of five college graduates and one-half
of high school graduates who do not enroll in college will be uninsured
for a time during the first year after graduation. Several states have
passed laws to expand coverage of dependent young adults up to age 24
or 25 under parents’ insurance policies. Three policy changes could
further help uninsured young adults gain coverage and prevent others
from losing it: extending eligibility for public insurance programs
beyond age 18; extending dependents’ eligibility for their parents’
private coverage beyond age 18 or 19; and ensuring that colleges
require full- and part-time students to have coverage, and that
colleges offer coverage to them.
Topics: The Uninsured |
Comments are closed.
« Report Cards for California PPO Plans | Home | American Express Dumps Health Savings Accounts (HSA) »
