A New Norm: Young and Uninsured
<p>A new Commonwealth Fund study released today finds that 13.7 million young adults in the U.S. lack health insurance, an increase of 2.5 million from 2000.<Br><bR>According to <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=22297&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Fpublications%2Fpublications%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D374136%26%23doc374136">Rite of Passage? Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help,</a> Americans between ages 19 and 29 represent the largest and fastest-growing segment of the population without health coverage. The consequences of being uninsured are serious: more than half (57%) of young adults in the study without coverage reported having gone without needed health care because of the cost.<br><br>Senior Program Officer Sara Collins, Ph.D., and her Fund coauthors say there are several ways to extend coverage to young adults--and prevent others from losing it. These include: extending eligibility for public coverage beyond age 19; extending eligibility for dependents under private coverage beyond 18 or 19; and ensuring that colleges and universities offer insurance to full- and part-time students.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2006/may/a-new-norm--young-and-uninsured