The Number of Uninsured Americans Age 18-25 Continues to Decline

A report on Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index indicates that the amount of uninsured 18-25 year-old Americans is decreasing.  The number of uninsured 18-25 year-old Americans began to decline (from 28% to 26.3%) in the fourth quarter of 2010, after the passage of the Affordable Care Act.  This act allowed Americans up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ healthcare plan.  Currently, 23.2% of 18-25 year-old Americans are uninsured.  While the passage of the Affordable Care Act had a significant impact on reducing the number of uninsured 18-25 year-olds, the number of uninsured 24-64 year-olds (20%) is increasing and the amount of uninsured Americans over 65 (3%) has not changed significantly.  The increasing amount of 26-64 year-old uninsured Americans can be attributed to high levels of unemployment and the decreasing employee benefits.  For instance, currently only about 44.8% of Americans receive employer-based coverage whereas 49.8% received employer-based coverage in January, 2008. In accordance, since January 2008, more Americans receive their health insurance coverage from a government plan (25.3% compared to. 22.9%) and more Americans are uninsured (16.9% compared 14.6%).  But, it is important to note that that number of uninsured Americans over 26 can be expected to decrease once additional ramifications of the Affordable Care Act go into effect in 2014.