Young People Just Aren’t Signing Up The numbers are in, and they don’t look good. Last week, we learned that only about 106,000 people signed up for coverage under the Obamacare exchanges. That’s pretty bad, particularly when the White House’s goal was to have 500,000 people signed up by now. To make matters worse, less than 27,000 Americans bought insurance through the actual healthcare website – meaning many people were forced to get covered over the phone or had to rely on state based exchanges. There is no doubt that HealthCare.gov has been absolutely disastrous. Even President Obama himself apologized to the American people and took blame for how poor the rollout has been. But truth be told, the problems run deeper than all of the technological “glitches” surrounding the website. Young people just aren’t signing up. Without young people buying insurance under Obamacare, it could undermine the financial viability of the entire law. Simply put, premiums paid by younger and healthier individuals are needed to offset the costs of those older and sicker who typically have higher medical bills. So far, it appears most of the sign-ups have been older individuals. Take California, for example. California has the largest uninsured population in the country, and according to a state health official, most of the roughly 35,000 sign-ups were older Americans. In Kentucky, nearly 3 out of 4 enrollees were over 35. Likewise, in Ohio, groups that helped with enrollment were reporting that many coming to them were older residents. This also matches young people’s attitudes in a recent poll. According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, opposition to the healthcare law among 18-29 year olds has increased by 16 points within the last month, with strong opposition to Obamacare up 21 points. Furthermore, the fallout from the Obamacare website debacle has caused the President’s overall approval rating to go down 23 points among those under 30 since January – the biggest drop for any demographic. Young people are seeing through the provocative advertisements and tactics and all the broken promises that you would be able to keep your healthcare plan. Why is that? Because we are experiencing just how expensive Obamacare is. An analysis by The Wall Street Journal of the lowest-cost “bronze” plans for a single 27 year old man compared to the pre-Obamacare lowest-cost options is startling. Even in a state like New Jersey, which already has a heavily regulated insurance market, plans for young people are set to increase to $219 from $162. But right next door, Pennsylvania will go from a low $73 to $195 for a bare-bones plan. This is the narrative in states all across the country. No wonder young people aren’t signing up! If young people continue to forgo signing up under Obamacare, and insurance companies end up with too many that are sick, they may have to increase premiums even more to stay afloat. From the “fumbled” rollout to outrageous price increases, not to mention concerns over privacy and security breaches, more and more young people are realizing just how bad a deal Obamacare is for our generation. Terence Grado Legislative and Coalitions Generation Opportunity Posted on November 19, 2013 Read more: generationopportunity.org/2013/11/19/young-people-just-arent-signing-up/#ixzz2lZcKMs4x
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 14:32:04 +0000