Study finds health law is helping protect young adults from high health bills

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May 31 2013

The RAND Corp. research finds that the law's provision allowing children up to the age of 26 to stay on their parents' health plans resulted in $147 million in hospital bills to be covered by insurance.

Kaiser Health News/NPR: Study: Health Law Protected Young Adults From High Hospital Bills
Researchers at the RAND Corporation set out to find some hard data on one aspect of the health law: Does having medical insurance protect young adults from the financial ruin that often comes with a major injury or illness? The quick answer: Yes, it does. ... The RAND analysis, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the new law resulted in $147 million in hospital bills charged to private insurance companies in 2011 (Varney, 5/29).

CBS News: Young Adults Protected From Emergency Room Costs Under Affordable Care Act: Study
The Affordable Care Act has provided financial protections for young adults facing medical emergencies, according to a new study. President Barack Obama signed the law in March 2010, and one of its provisions that kicked in that September allowed young adults between the ages of 19 and 25 to stay on their parents' private health insurance plans. The extra coverage stops when they turn 26 years old (Jaslow, 5/29).

NBC News: Insurers Pick Up $147 Million Tab For Young Adults Under Obamacare
One of the first provisions of the 2010 health reform law has had its intended effect: shifting costs from hospitals, taxpayers and families to health insurance companies, researchers reported on Thursday. It's one of the most popular aspects of the law. It requires insurance companies to cover young adults, aged 19 to 26, on their parents' policies if the families ask. These young adults are the most likely to "wing it" without insurance (Fox, 5/29).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Posted in: Healthcare News

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