ObamaCare Grows Government On the Backs of Young Adults

“The Center for American Progress will announce today that the events – with such sponsors as AFSCME, SEIU and U.S. PIRG — include ‘small business roundtables/workshops, seniors’ town hall meetings, young adult information sessions, press conferences with Members of Congress and Administration officials … An online campaign featuring videos of real Americans benefitting from the law will complement the grassroots activities. … [T]argeted radio advertising … and social-media advertising … will also be launched…’

“–EVENT THEMES: Friday, “Moving Forward, Protecting Young Adults’ Care” (Mike Allen, “Health Reform Turns 1: White House Allies Plan Week-Long Blitz, ‘Moving Forward'”, Politico Playbook, 3/17/2011)

Far from “protecting” healthcare for young Americans, ObamaCare taxes them now and in the future to pay for its massive expansion of government programs. These policy changes can have the practical effect of significantly increasing costs for young people, in the form of higher premiums, mandated health insurance purchases and new taxes.

ObamaCare’s “individual mandate,” for instance, forces young people to purchase insurance or face a fine. The result: potentially thousands more dollars out of young people’s pockets every year:

AT LEAST $700/YEAR FINE FOR YOUNG ADULTS WHO DON’T BUY INSURANCE: “Under the law, the penalty for not having coverage is phased in. When it starts in 2014, the penalty will be $95 or 1 percent of an individual’s income, whichever is greater. And when it’s fully in place, starting in 2016, it will cost either $695 or 2.5 percent of income.” (David Nather, “Experts: Individual Mandate Might Fail,” Politico, 3/1/2011)

YOUTH TO “BEAR A DISPROPORTIONATE COST”: “Young adults are in for a wake-up call if health care reform passes.

“For the first time ever, the federal government is going to require that everybody obtain health insurance coverage. For those who have insurance through their employers, the so-called individual mandate may have very little impact. But for young adults, many of whom are not currently covered, the health care bill will add a new and costly expense to their budgets….

” ‘If you charge people a fair price, then a 50-to-60-year-old should pay about six times as much as a 20-year-old,’ said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. But he noted that the Senate bill says older people can be charged only three times as much; the House bill says they can be charged two times as much. ‘So we’re going to penalize low-income young people in order to lower the premiums for older wealthier people.’”

” ‘Young people are going to bear a disproportionate cost in this reform,’ Holtz-Eakin said.” (Jim Angle, “Health Care Countdown: Young People Could Bear Brunt of Insurance Mandates,” Fox News, 1/5/2010)

In addition, the Democrats’ health law institutes a practice known as “community rating” nationwide, which effectively loads the cost of insuring older, higher-risk patients onto younger, lower-risk patients in the form of higher premiums. As a result, young people who do seek health insurance will face substantially higher premiums:

17 PERCENT INCREASE IN PREMIUMS FOR YOUTH: “Under the health care overhaul, young adults who buy their own insurance will carry a heavier burden of the medical costs of older Americans— a shift expected to raise insurance premiums for young people when the plan takes full effect.

“Beginning in 2014, most Americans will be required to buy insurance or pay a tax penalty. That’s when premiums for young adults seeking coverage on the individual market would likely climb by 17% on average, or roughly $42 a month, according to an analysis of the plan conducted for The Associated Press. …

“The higher costs will pinch many people in their 20s and early 30s who are struggling to start or advance their careers with the highest unemployment rate in 26 years.” (Carla K. Johnson, “Health Premiums May Rise 17% for Young Adults Buying Own Insurance,” Associated Press, 3/29/2010)

“25-YEAR OLDS PAY FAR MORE UNDER THIS SCHEME AND MANY WOULD FORGO INSURANCE ENTIRELY”: “Community rating means that you pay health insurance premiums not on the basis of your own health characteristics (e.g., smoking status, drinking behavior, weight, sex, and age) but on the average characteristics of the community. Guaranteed issue means an insurer must issue policies to all applicants whether they are healthy or unhealthy. The combination of the twoessentially creates a price-control scheme where healthy 25-year-olds pay the same premiums as 55-year-old smokers if they buy insurance in the individual market. Proponents emphasize the benefits to the 55- year-olds, but 25-year-olds pay far more under this scheme and many would forgo insurance entirely.” (Aaron Yelowitz, “ObamaCare: A Bad Deal for Young Adults,” CATO Institute, 11/9/2009)

EDUCATION GROUPS WARN STUDENT HEALTH PLANS MAY BE DROPPED: “We are concerned the application of several provisions under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), including certain insurance market reforms and the individual mandate, could make it impossible for colleges and universities to continue to offer student health plans.” (Molly Corbett Broad, “ACA-Student Health Plans Letter,” American Council on Education, 8/12/2010)

New York has had a version of community rating in place for years, resulting in far higher costs for young people relative to other states:

NY PLANS COST $200 MORE PER MONTH THAN COMPARABLE PLANS IN AZ: “Last year, thanks to his youth, good health history and newly tamed cholesterol, Anthony qualified for a $5,500 deductible plan with a premium of just $100 a month. (The policy in Arizona closest to the New York point-of-service coverage costs around $300, versus $1500.) ‘The system in Arizona gave me a major financial incentive to improve my health,’ says Anthony.” (Shawn Tully, “Health Care Act’s Two Ticking Bombs,” CNN, 4/9/2010)

Moreover, this policy comes at a time when ObamaCare is already forcing a dramatic spike in insurance premiums:

INSURANCE PREMIUMS SEE STEEP RISE POST-OBAMACARE: “As employers struggle with rising healthcare costs and a sour economy, U.S. workers for the first time in at least a decade are being asked to shoulder the entire increase in the cost of health benefits on their own.

“The average worker with a family plan was hit with 14% premium increase this year, pushing the bill to nearly $4,000 a year, according to a survey by the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.

“That is the largest annual increase since the survey began in 1999 and a marked change from previous years, when employers generally split the rise in the cost of premiums with their employees.” (Noam N. Levey, “U.S. Employers Push Increase In Cost of Healthcare Onto Workers,” Los Angeles Times, 9/2/2010)

PREMIUM HIKES “A DIRECT RESULT” OF OBAMACARE: “Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections.” (Janet Adamy, “Health Insurers Pin Rate Hikes on Health Law,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/7/2010)

Young people can also expect a greater strain on their long-term finances as a result of ObamaCare. The law increases the national debt by $1.445 trillion over the next ten years alone—a cost that will eventually have to be paid for in the form of higher taxes on our youngest generations of Americans:

“What’s $2.3 trillion among friends? That’s the canyon between the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of a $9.5 trillion federal budget deficit over the next decade under White House proposals, and the White House’s own estimate of $7.2 trillion. The discrepancy emerged in a CBO analysis released Friday, not that it got much media attention.

“We thought you’d like to know, and we also want to underline a less-noticed section that shows that ObamaCare will be far more expensive than advertised. To wit, CBO says the entitlement’s health insurance subsidies will cost $1.13 trillion between 2012 and 2021, not $1.04 trillion, the prior estimate. This 8.6% jump is the result of revised assumptions, the so-called technical factors in CBO’s budget model. The bill’s total cost now stands at $1.445 trillion, according to another recent CBO estimate.” (Editorial Board, “Unhappy Anniversary,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/23/2011)