Do Young Adults Feel Betrayed By Obama Over Healthcare Reform?
Posted: Tuesday, March 30, 2010
by Yamileth Medina
VitalOne Health
The majority of young adults voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. In fact, the 18-24 demographic made up the biggest slice of now-President Obama's supporters. Is the controversy over health insurance reform causing them to regret their decision? Healthcare reform was one of the pillars of his campaign platform, but he initially endorsed an approach closer to that proposed by liberal single-payer advocates.Young adults are the largest percentage of the uninsured in the United States. Some are without insurance voluntarily, and this group is the thorn in the side of health insurers. The business model of health insurance companies is based on younger, healthier people paying into the system while paying out relatively few claims for the older, unhealthier people. If the risk pool's balance is off, insurers must either charge more or refuse some potential customers.
That is where the individual mandate comes into play. There are accompanying subsidies intended to be used in regulated exchange markets (not factored into the study), which will help with the cost. However, the cost will be an average of $42 more each month.
Some Millennials are indeed feeling abandoned. With a record-high unemployment rate--even more severe in this age group--they are little able to afford health insurance as is. Many more are either underemployed, or working in positions without health benefits. As a result, they must buy individual health insurance. The possibility that a bill purported to help them may end up adding to their struggles hurts even more.
In general, young adults are of two minds. Many are understandably resentful of having to pay higher health insurance rates in order to cover older adults in worse health. New limits on age rating mean that insurers can only charge a 50-year-old 300% more for a policy than a 20 year old in similar health, whereas the previous law allowed them to charge up to six or seven times more. Unlike older Americans, young adults did not have their own centralized lobbying group to push their issues during the debate.
Despite those concerns, others are expressing more progressive and generous views. According to some polls, they are willing to pay slightly more for health insurance plans now because they realize they will eventually be older and benefit from these policies.
(Image: Josef Seibel under CC 3.0)
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Good article Yamileth. Thanks for sharing.Thanks for your compliment :)
Thanks for the great series, Yamileth. As I have said before, if one believes that health care is a right and not a privilege for the wealthy, which I do emphatically, then nationaized health care is the only answer. Otherwise, it's going to be a pick-up game every day with escalating costs. Insurers only care for their bottom line, not people, and bottom lines leave many out. Not fair, or American, as far as I can see. In the past we have taken care of each other regarding the bare-bone necessities of life - food, shelter and medicine. If we disregard these things, then we disregard what we are, or were, all about.Metta.....eTrue. There are many barriers to that though. The American mindset is quite unique at times. I saw something recently in Newsweek that said that for better or worse, Obama delivered on most of his health insurance-related campaign promises with this. Thanks for commenting!
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