One of the notable successes of the federal health care reform law was highlighted by data released last Friday. New Gallup polling results from spring 2012 vividly illustrate the effectiveness of that law (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA) in reducing the number of uninsured young adults, even while broader trends in the insurance market reduced coverage of older adults.

Beginning in September 2010, the ACA required health insurers to allow adults up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ employer-sponsored insurance. The number of uninsured young adults (ages 18 through 25) has fallen sharply since the new law took effect, despite the fact that overall access to employer-sponsored coverage has continued its long decline.Gallup released the preliminary insurance data on June 8 for the second quarter of 2012, based on a survey of more than 57,000 adults between April 1 and May 31.  (Complete 2nd quarter results will be released in July).  Highlights of the findings include the following:

• The share of young adults (18 through 25) who are uninsured dropped from 28.0% in the third quarter of 2010 to 23.0% in the second quarter of 2013. 
• That improvement occurred even as the portion of adults with employer-sponsored insurance dropped to 44.0% in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 46.0% two years earlier (and 49.8% two years before that). 
• In light of that trend in employer insurance, it isn’t surprising that the percentage of adults aged 26 or older who are uninsured rose from 18.1 in the third quarter of 2010 to 19.6% in the spring of this year.

In a related story, a study released by the Commonwealth Fund last week concluded that the number of young adults who had health coverage through their parents’ insurance plans grew by about 6.6 million between November 2010 and Nov. 2011.  The Gallup polling numbers indicate that the improved access to coverage is continuing this year to shrink the percentage of young adults who are uninsured.

Nevertheless, there are still large numbers of uninsured and underinsured young adults. When they broadened their lens to include all young adults ages 19 to 29, the Commonwealth Fund found that the facts didn’t support the stereotype of “young invincibles” who are disinterested in health insurance. In that age range, they found that 41% reported have cost-related problems getting health care in 2011 and 36% had medical bill problems or debt.  Among low-income young adults, 70% had gaps in coverage.

As the Commonwealth Fund report notes, the health care reform law makes other changes in 2014 that will greatly improve access to health insurance for young adults who do not have the ability to join a parent’s health plan. The affordable insurance options slated to begin then include substantially expanded eligibility for Medicaid (to 133% of the federal poverty level) and subsidized private health plans for those with incomes up to 400% of the poverty level.

An Associated Press article Sunday explains some of the “messy ripple effects” that would result if the Supreme Court strikes down the ACA.  For example, insurance companies could continue to allow young adults to be on their parents’ health insurance; however, many parents would pay higher taxes as a result.  If all of the ACA is invalidated or repealed, they would no longer be able to pay for the young adult’s coverage with pre-tax dollars.

Jon Peacock