government

More young adults have dependent coverage

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 23, 2012

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The number of 19- to 25-year-olds covered as dependents under employer-based health insurance increased by nearly 1 million between 2009 and 2010, says a Jan. 10 report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The percentage of this population with such coverage reached 27.7% in 2010, a boost of three percentage points.

The health system reform law requires many health plans to extend dependent coverage to young adults until their 26th birthday. The mandate began in September 2010 but did not take effect until January 2011 for most health plans.

Part of the dependent coverage increase might have been because more young people lost or didn't find jobs and had no access to their own employer-sponsored coverage, the report said. The percentage of 19- to 25-year-olds with their own coverage declined by 2.5 percentage points to reach 17.5% in 2010. Adults older than 25 did not have a similar decline.

The EBRI analysis is available online (link).

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/23/gvbf0123.htm.

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