The conventional wisdom says that young adults, the so called “young invincibles,” will prove the hardest demographic to sign up for coverage under Obamacare.
Rich Hamer, who just completed a survey of more than 3,500 uninsured Americans, thinks the conventional wisdom is wrong. His research finds, surprisingly, that young adults might be the easiest recruits.
“I think the fear that the risk pool is going to be very sick people is unwarranted,” says Hamer, managing principal at Minneapolis-based Deft Research. “I think a lot of studies show that the main obstacle is affordability, and that just won’t be as much of an issue with younger people.”
The Obama administration has made no secret of who it wants to sign up for Obamacare: The young and healthy. These are the people who tend to have the lowest health-care costs – and they’re why the White House is taking meetings with sites like Funny or Die, encouraging them to promote the law.
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The concern for months now has been that young people simply won’t sign up for health insurance. The reason that the White House needs them – their low health-care costs – is the exact same one that could make them the least likely demographic to purchase health care.
Date: August 30, 2013