Young Adult Coverage Provision under ACA Beats Fed’s Expectations

It’s that time of year again. Graduation. In the spirit of all things healthcare reform, it is a good time to take a look at one of the more popular provisions of the reform law — extension of coverage of dependents of parental plans until age twenty-six. Reports are now surfacing that the federal government was unprepared for such an onslaught of consumers taking advantage of the law. Many plans have enrolled tens of thousands of young adults to their rolls, potentially adding to plans’ earning forecasts for 2011.

They’ve been called “the invincibles”, the demographic coined by healthcare policy wonks of the early-to-mid twenty-somethings which formerly bypassed coverage for essentially none at all until they were able to obtain, at the very least, employer sponsored coverage. Of course, the rush to get coverage has brought concerns over the ability to control costs with respect to this key provision of the ACA. Corporate lobbies, usually representing the nation’s largest business collectives, are a little concerned of the requirement to cover dependents even if they are married and not enrolled as students. (Most health plans have until 2014 to forego dependent coverage if the adult child’s employer offers any type of health coverage.)

At this point HHS couldn’t be more ecstatic of the response to this provision of the reform law, as almost 600 000 young adults have jumped on board.