The New Republic: Gosh, Could Obamacare Be Working?

[cbayer]

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/94924/uninsured-young-adult-affordable-care-act-census


Jonathan Cohn
September 14, 2011 | 10:13 am



Need a reason to believe the Affordable Care Act is starting to work? The Census Bureau just gave you a half million of them.

That’s how many young adults had health insurance in 2010, as compared to 2009, according to the official estimates. Or, to put it another way, the proportion of 18- to 24-year olds without health insurance fell, by roughly two percentage points, last year.

-snip-

Remember, one of the first provisions to take effect was a requirement that insurers allow young adults, up to age 26, to stay on their parents’ policies if employer-sponsored insurance is not available. Even though that requirement didn't kick in until the fall, several insurers began offering such coverage earlier, in anticipation of the new rule. Media reports, like this one from Kaiser Health News, suggested large numbers of young people were signing up for the newly available coverage, even more quickly than the government had anticipated.

-snip-


Of course, the young adult provision is just one small part of the new health care law. The really big increases in insurance coverage won’t happen until 2014, when Medicaid expands to cover a much larger proportion of the low-income population and the federal government begins offering subsidies, plus the opportunity to buy regulated coverage through new insurance exchanges, to middle class people who can’t get employer coverage. And, I’m sure, critics would argue the gains in coverage either don’t make much difference or aren’t worth the harm the law would bring.


more at link

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[FrenchieCat]

2. Yes, it is....

But you'll only hear about that every now and then.