Published: May 2006
Young adults and health coverage
The Commonwealth Fund in a new study, Rite of Passage? Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help, recommends strategies to extend coverage to uninsured young adults and prevent others young people from losing coverage.
According to a new study titled Rite of Passage? by the Commonwealth Fund, young adults (ages 19 to 29) are one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population without health insurance: 13.7 million lacked coverage in 2004, an increase of 2.5 million since 2000.
Young adults often lose coverage under their parents' policies, Medicaid, or the State Children's Health Insurance Program at age 19, or when they graduate from high school or college. Nearly two of five college graduates and one-half of high school graduates who do not go on to college will be uninsured for a period during the first year after graduation.
Three policy changes could extend coverage to uninsured young adults and prevent others from losing it: extending eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program beyond age 18; extending eligibility for dependents under private coverage beyond age 18 or 19 regardless of student status; and ensuring that colleges and universities require full- and part-time students to have insurance, and that they offer coverage to both.
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