Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040

    Young adults make up almost one-quarter of sign-ups in health-insurance exchanges

    Young adults make up almost one-quarter of sign-ups in health-insurance exchanges

    By Amy Goldstein and Sandhya Somashkehar, Updated: Monday, January 13, 1:00 PME-mail the writer

    Young adults account for slightly less than one-fourth of the Americans who signed up for health plans during the initial three months of federal and state insurance marketplaces — a smaller share than government and industry officials have said will be pivotal to making the economics of the health-care law work.

    The figures, part of a monthly progress report issued Monday on enrollment in the new marketplaces, offer the first glimpse into whether the health plans available under the Affordable Care Act are becoming provinces of the sick and old — or are managing to attract young, healthy people who previously did not consider insurance worthwhile.


    (Kennedy Elliott and Sarah Kliff/Hawaii Tribune Herald, WPRI.com, Star Tribune, Nevada Health Link, state press releases.) - Although enrollment numbers for insurance exchanges set up in states by the federal government won't be available for several weeks, states operating their own health-care insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, and the District of Columbia, have started to release enrollment data.


    According to the report, released by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, 23 percent of nearly 1.2 million people who enrolled through the federal insurance marketplace by the end of December are between the ages of 18 and 34. In 14 states and the District, which are running their own new marketplaces, 25 percent of the nearly 900,000 people who enrolled fall within that age group.

    The figures mean that the proportion of young adults who have signed up is smaller than estimates by the government and outside health policy analysts have suggested is necessary to make the exchanges work well. It is estimated that roughly two Americans in five in the new health plans should be young adults to prevent the plans’ premiums from rising and some insurers from potentially dropping out.


    In releasing the report, several federal health officials gave an upbeat portrayal, saying that they were pleased with the progress and predicting that the plans will attract more young adults during the second half of an open enrollment period that continues through March. The report “is solid, solid news for us,” a senior Obama administration official told reporters at a White House briefing.


    The numbers, however, ratchet up the pressure on outreach efforts around the country to persuade young people to sign up. Their willingness to do so — even in the face of a new legal requirement that most Americans have coverage--has hovered as one of the uncertainties about how the law would work in practice.


    The proportion of young people — 24 percent overall — “is lower than would be ideal,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, which completed a study last month showing that 40 percent of the U.S. population that could benefit from the new insurance marketplaces are 18 to 34 years old. But Levitt called the proportion “an encouraging number,” given that 2 1/2 months remain for people to enroll for coverage this year and that the federal online system, HealthCare.gov had defects that prevented many people from signing up for much of the fall.


    Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s main trade group, said the impact of who buys coverage “is more a continuum than a cliff” and pointed out that insurance prices are influenced by both the age of customers and how much health care they need. “The more young, healthy people participating, the more stable the marketplace will be, and the more affordable coverage will be.”


    Beyond the age breakdowns, the report issued Monday also contains the first information on the gender of people buying new health plans and which of several tiers of insurance are proving the most popular.

    Fifty-three percent of the people who have chosen health plans are women, and 47 percent are men, with a slightly higher percentage of women in the federal marketplace than in the state exchanges.

    The report also shows that, of four levels of coverage, named for different metals, by far the most popular is the “silver” tier plans — the second level from the bottom and the one that serves as the basis for the size of federal subsidies.


    Under the law, the government is for the first time providing subsidies to help Americans pay for private health insurance. The report says that, during the first three months of enrollment, about four in five people who signed up qualified for a federal tax credit — 80 percent in the federal marketplace and 78 percent, on average, in the separate state marketplaces.


    The overall enrollment figures in Monday’s report echo information the White House already has issued, showing a substantial upswing in consumers choosing health plans in December as problems with HealthCare.gov that had daunted many people trying to shop for health plans tapered off. In contrast to the first two enrollment reports, covering October and November, the enrollment from the three dozen states relying on the federal exchange now exceeds that from the states with their own marketplaces.


    The enrollment in the federal marketplace increased seven-fold in December, while it tripled, on average, in the state ones.


    While Americans can sign up through March 31 for coverage in 2014, the December enrollment period was especially significant because the health plans took effect on New Year’s day and anyone who signed up by Dec. 24 — and pays the first months’ premium by various deadlines this month — is covered from the beginning. Under the health-care law, most people will risk a financial penalty if they have not chosen coverage by the end of March.


    http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...723_story.html

    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    Top Stories

    Washington Post



    See realtime coverage
    Over Half in New Insurance Exchanges Are 45 or Older

    Wall Street Journal
    28 minutes ago
    Written by
    Louise Radnofsky
    More than half of those signing up for private health plans on new insurance exchanges are 45 or older, the Obama administration said Monday, a sign that the rough rollout of the exchanges may have skewed early enrollment.
    In Depth:UPDATE 2-Youth participation low in early Obamacare enrollmentReuters

    The New York Times
    2 hours ago - Google+

    Health Care Plans Attracting More Older, Less Healthy People http://nyti.ms/1az0Lqj People signing up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s federal and state marketplaces tend to be older and potentially…
    Health Care Plans Attracting More Older, Less Healthy People

    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 01-13-2014 at 07:33 PM.
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    Obamacare youth enrollment lower than expected. Why the optimism?


    Christian Science Monitor
    10 minutes ago
    Written by
    Linda Feldmann





    Young American adults are enrolling in health insurance in lower-than-expected numbers on the government-run marketplaces, according to numbers released Monday by the Obama administration. . .
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  4. #4
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •