Health care reform may be responsible for a rise in partisan bickering, but what is also rising is the number of young adults with health insurance — 1 million more since last year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In the first quarter of 2011, the percentage of adults between the ages 19 and 25 with health insurance increased by 3.5 percentage points, representing approximately 1 million additional young adults with coverage compared to a year ago, according to data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), issued by HHS’ National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One of the earliest provisions to kick in from health care reform, also known as the Affordable Care Act, was a rule allowing most children to remain on their parents’ health coverage until age 26.
The survey results indicate that no other age group experienced a gain in coverage, and an HHS news release and issue brief say the Affordable Care Act made a difference.
And just so people wouldn’t think this was an isolated fact, HHS cited other supporting data, such as:
- A Gallup survey showing a “significant increase” in rates of insured adults ages 18-25, from 71 percent in the first quarter of 2010 to 75.1 percent in the second quarter of 2011.
- U.S. Census Bureau results from the Current Population Survey, describing insurance coverage for calendar year 2010, which found that roughly 400,000 additional adults ages 19-25 were insured during 2010 compared to 2009.
In addition, the NHIS survey had these tidbits regarding employer-based coverage (generally based on data from the January through March 2011 period):
- Private coverage decreased among near poor adults aged 18-64, from 52.6 percent in 1997 to 36.1 percent in the first three months of 2011. The uninsured rate (40.2 percent) was higher than the private coverage rate (36.1 percent) for this population.
- Among persons under age 65, 61.3 percent were covered by private health insurance at the time of the survey interview.
- Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of adults aged 18-64 were covered by a private plan, compared with 54.4 percent of children under age 18. Among adults aged 19-25, 53.2 percent were covered by a private plan in the first three months of 2011.
- Among persons under age 65 with private health insurance, 29.1 percent were enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), including 8.8 percent who were enrolled in a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP).
- The percentage of persons covered by employment-based private plans who were enrolled in HDHPs increased from 15.6 percent in 2007 to 26.9 percent in the first three months of 2011.
- An estimated 20.7 percent of persons with private health insurance were in a family with a flexible spending account (FSA) for medical expenses. This is an increase from 2007, when 16.7 percent of persons under age 65 with private insurance were in a family with a FSA. However, there has been no significant increase in FSA enrollment since 2009.