Census report: 500k young adults newly covered since 2010

New Census Bureau data, as well as other new surveys released this week, shows that young adults have gained health coverage at higher-than-expected rates since the ACA was passed in 2010 (Source: “Young Adults Make Gains in Health Insurance Coverage,” New York Times, Sept. 21, 2011).

According to a report from the Census Bureau (pdf, 87 pages), the share of young adults – the group most likely to be uninsured –  without health insurance dropped in 2010 by 2 percentage points, to 27.2 percent. That decline meant that 502,000 fewer 18- to 24-year-olds were uninsured. Most gained coverage through private policies, not government programs.

The Obama administration attributes the improvement to a provision of the Affordable Care Act that permits parents to cover dependents up to their 26th birthdays. Until that measure took effect one year ago this week, children typically had to roll off their parents’ family policies at 18 or 21, or when they left college.