Young adults, especially those with low incomes who will qualify for financial assistance, have poor awareness of health insurance options that will be available under President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, according to survey findings published Wednesday that underscore the challenges facing Obamacare.
Just 27 percent of people ages 19 to 29 had heard of the health insurance exchange marketplaces, where people who don’t get coverage at work will be able to shop for insurance plans and learn whether they qualify for subsidized benefits, the Commonwealth Fund poll of almost 1,900 people between November 2011 and March 2013 reveals. Awareness was even lower among people who were uninsured during part of the prior year and whose incomes will make them eligible for help, at 19 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
Understanding of the health insurance exchanges and the rest of the law may have improved in the months since the survey as the focus on young adults and health care reform has intensified, said Sara Collins, vice president of affordable health insurance at the Commonwealth Fund and author of the report.
“If you were to ask the question now, you might get a higher share of young adults saying that they’re aware of the marketplaces,” Collins said. Not only has Obama and his administration emphasized the importance of young adults to the law’s success, but states such as Oregon have launched outreach and advertising campaigns targeted toward younger people, she said.
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The White House, allied outside groups, states implementing the law and health insurance companies are beginning an aggressive push to target younger people. The Obama administration aims to enroll 7 million people into health insurance via the exchanges for 2014 and calculates 2.7 million of them should be young and healthy to ensure a stable pool of people covered in these plans so that medical costs for sicker people don’t overwhelm the system.
The Obama administration needs a substantial number of young adults to sign up for health insurance plans through the state-based exchanges that will begin a six-month enrollment period on Oct. 1 for coverage that takes effect as soon as Jan. 1, according to the Commonwealth Fund report.
“Young adults’ participation in the nation’s new insurance marketplaces is essential: as a healthier-than-average population, it allows for comprehensive health plans to be offered at affordable prices to all enrollees over time. However, concern is widespread that young adults will continue to go uninsured, despite the new options available to them under the law,” the Commonwealth Fund report says.
Date: August 21, 2013