Health care reform legislation was passed in March in the form of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the subsequent Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The reforms contain a number of provisions that will both directly and indirectly affect young adults immediately and in the future.
The provision that might affect young adults most is that young adults who are not eligible for employer coverage on their own will be able to stay on their parents’ health care plan until age 26, starting later this year.
According to “Health Reform for Young Adults,” a document released on the White House’s Web site, young adults who are already eligible for coverage from their employers will be able to stay on a parent’s employer plan starting in 2014.
“I know for a fact that one of the primary concerns for students while they’re in college is maintaining some form of health insurance, and this gives them more time to stay on the health insurance plan that their parents might have,” said Michael Licari, interim political science department head and associate professor.
This year a provision that prohibits insurance companies from denying insurance coverage to individuals under 19 years of age based on preexisting conditions will begin. In the future, the act will prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to all individuals.
The act will also provide uninsured young adults with preexisting conditions access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk pool.
“This high-risk pool is a stop-gap measure that will serve as a bridge to a reformed health insurance marketplace,” the White House document states.
State-based health insurance exchanges will be created in 2014 and will give young adults a variety of health insurance options, including what the White House document calls a lower-cost “young invincible coverage option” for individuals under 30 years of age. According to the document, the exchanges will include the insurance options that the president and members of Congress have, including multi-state plans.
Starting in 2014, the act will also provide premium tax credits for young adults making up to about $43,000 a year to make coverage more affordable in the health insurance exchanges.
All uninsured individuals will be charged a $95 penalty beginning in 2014. That amount will increase each year until 2016, when it will top at $695 or 2.5 percent of an individual’s income, according to the article “Young Invincibles’ imperil health reform” on CNNMoney.com.
