Hundreds of Thousands of Young Adults Helped by Health Care Reform

The president’s health care reform bill, called the Affordable Care Act, included among its provisions a new rule that insurance companies and employers who sponsor group health plans must allow children up to the age of 26 to remain on their parent’s plan.  This rule was targeted to help a group of Americans, age 18-26, who have historically been the most likely to be without coverage. The law went into effect on January 1^st of this year and around 1.2 million young adults were expected to be newly covered by the end of 2011.

Figures released by the major insurance companies this month show that young adults are taking advantage of this new rule faster than anticipated. 600,000 young adults now have coverage through their parents plan so far this year. NPR highlights here the story of new college graduates who will now be able to stay insured as they enter the job market for the first time.

The effects of this law have already begun to show up in national insurance statistics. Gallup polling has found that the number of 18-26 year olds reporting to be uninsured has dropped by 4 points since 2010 and this demographic no longer has the highest uninsured rate. This drop is especially impressive considering that the ongoing job crisis in the country pushed the number of uninsured in each of the other categories up by at least a half a point.

-- Kaiser Health News / NPR / Gallup