"Rite of Passage? Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help"
Sara R. Collins, Cathy Schoen, Jennifer L. Kriss, Michelle M. Doty, Bisundev Mahato
The Commonwealth Fund, May 2006
According to a report by The Commonwealth Fund, young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 are the largest and fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population lacking health insurance. Young adults comprised 40 percent of the 6 million people who joined the ranks of the uninsured from 2000 to 2004, the last year for which data are available, according to the study's authors.
The authors concluded there were many reasons that young adults lack health insurance. Sixty-two percent of young adults are eligible for their employer's insurance plan, compared with 73 percent of adults age 30 to 64. And 73 percent of young adults take their employer-sponsored insurance compared with 82 percent of adults ages 30 to 64.
The report said Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program classify teenagers as adults the day they turn 19. Often, the young adults who had been insured under those programs for the economically disadvantaged don't have an option to stay on government-sponsored programs unless they qualify for Medicaid as an adult.
