(hhs.gov)
The number of young (i.e., mostly healthy) adults with health insurance has risen by 3.5 percentage points:
The Department of Health and Human Services is trumpeting new survey results showing a huge increase in the number of young adults with health insurance as sign that [Obamacare] has been a success.According to a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly one million adults under the age of 26 gained health insurance in 2011. As a result, the percentage of adults between the ages of 19 and 25 with health insurance rose from 66.1% in 2010 to 69.6 this year.One of the major provisions of [ObamaCare] allowed young adults to remain on their parents' health insurance program until age 26. That provision went into effect last September.
On the other hand, the percentage adults over the age 26 with health insurance decreased by almost 5 percentage points over the same period. This is a fact that our liberal counterparts at Firedoglake have not missed:
...overall that improvement has not been large enough to make up for the steady loss of insurance coverage due to high unemployment and rising insurance premiums. The percentage of Americans without insurance has continued to climb since the passage of [Obamacare] and is now at 17.4 percent among all Americans.
Let's not forget that the chain reaction of Obamacare, rising insurance premiums and rising unemployment was painfully predictable.
Let's also remember that there's no such thing as a free lunch. One commenter looks at it this way:
Of course more young people are getting health insurance - people like me are paying for it. My insurance went up 17% this year because of the provision in Obama care where young adults, up to the age of 26, can be covered by their parents plan.
This is not merely an unproven anecdotal observation:
The annual Milliman Medical Index (MMI) measures the total cost of healthcare for a typical family of four covered by a preferred provider plan (PPO). The 2011 MMI cost is $19,393, an increase of $1,319, or 7.3% over 2010...Employees' share of the total cost is at an all-time high, having increased from 36.8% in the first year of the MMI (2005) to 39.7% in 2011.
Unfortunately, young adults who aren't covered by their parents are particularly hard-hit by Obamacare's restriction on age rating of premiums. Mandated “rate compression” forces insurers to overprice coverage for younger individuals.
To summarize, health care costs for families (including young adults) are at an all-time high. And while more young adults now have a health insurance card to carry around, health insurance coverage for adults over the age of 26 has dropped by approximately 5 percentage points.
Is this what "Winning The Future" is supposed to look like?
ADDENDA:
ANNUAL MEDICAL COSTS FOR FAMILY OF FOUR
Medical costs for employees and employers continue to rise steadily:
MEDICAL COSTS BY SOURCE OF PAYMENT
Discussion: Memeorandum
UPDATE: Linked at The Lonely Conservative. Thanks!
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