"Approximately 30 percent of Americans between the ages of 19 and 29 have no health insurance. This age group makes up 13 million of the 47 million Americans currently living without health insurance. The Affordable Care Act allows young adults to remain on their parents' or guardians' health plan until age 26. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that approximately 2.37 million young adults will be affected by the new law, out of which 1.83 million are currently uninsured." (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2010).
The objectives of this bill is to extend health care coverage of young adults who meet certain criteria and this criteria differs from state to state. This can decline the rapidly inclining rate of uninsured Americans. Clients who formerly would have had to either find their own health insurance or forced to opt out and have no health insurance are now secured for longer under their parents insurance. Some implications for this extension are discussed in a May 2010 issue brief of the Commonwealth Fund. "As new entrants to the labor force, college graduates confront hazards similar to those faced by high school graduates: difficulty in finding employment, health insurance waiting periods, temporary positions, lower-wage jobs, employment in small firms, and job turnover." (Collins Nicholson, 2010)
"Nearly one-third (32%) of uninsured young adults and 46 percent of uninsured young adults with chronic health problems reported that their condition worsened in the last 12 months because they did not get health care soon enough." (Collins Nicholson, 2010) This statistic shows the impact of this bill on clients being able to receive affordable and preventable care because insurance can promote clients to seek after health care before conditions worsen. Nurses can become educators and be involved in prevention as a this health care reform bill allows more access of clients to nurses and other health care professionals. The bill will also prevent the case managers to go through lengthy processes to locate resources for uninsured clients who would otherwise would not be able to afford the funding.
Political influences of this bill are impacted by each state as the individual states discuss who is able to have this extended coverage. The states are sponsoring the bill base the eligibility of people to receive this coverage on the state budget and so there is varying coverage from state to state.
Based on the data and statistics presented above, I think that the passage of this bill could have a significant impact on American health insurance. As a college student, I can relate to the overwhelming cost of health coverage, as well as the vulnerability of trying to find my own coverage when I leave college and begin a new career. It would give me peace of mind to know that I could remain on my parent’s insurance plan as a new graduate. This would give me time to find a solid job, and really take the time to look into what kind of health insurance plan would be right for me. I found it astonishing that 13 million Americans ages 19-29 are uninsured. It seems to me that this particular age range is especially vulnerable, and would benefit from remaining insured on a parents policy as long as they meet the pre-requisites to do so. If this bill were passed, young adults would remain insured, not have to struggle right out of college to find an insurance plan, and would hopefully have better access to the medical care that they might need.
ReplyDeleteThe statistics presented in this blog were very unsettling. I was amazed at how many Americans would be covered just by simply extending the coverage age of young adult to age 26 under their parent’s insurance. Many young adults within the 19 to 29 year old age group are faced with the challenges of trying to get insurance coverage or even afford insurance coverage, especially during this time of economic instability. With graduation soon approaching, many students may find difficulty finding employment, which could consequently leave new graduates without medical insurance for several months and unable to seek care that they may desperately need. Additionally, I did not realize this age group, 19 to 29 years old, accounted for 13 million of the uninsured population. If this bill was able to pass, the ability to have extended coverage until the age of 26 would significantly decrease the number of uninsured in this age range allowing them to seek more preventative care to promote a longer and healthier life.
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