An estimated 2.4 million Americans aged 19 to 34 will be newly eligible for Medicaid in states that expand their programs in 2014, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report.
Including those who are currently eligible but not enrolled, approximately 5.4 million uninsured young adults will be eligible for Medicaid in January, according to the report. The authors analyzed data from the March 2011 Annual Supplement on Economic Conditions to the Current Population Survey to determine the portion of the young adult population that is currently eligible for Medicaid and that will become eligible in January 2014.
Here are some more of their key findings:
1. Of the uninsured young people who will be eligible for Medicaid next year, 51 percent are the parent of a child on Medicaid, are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and/or receive unemployment compensation or live in a household where someone receives unemployment compensation. This indicates enrollment outreach efforts could reach this population through other public programs, according to the report.
2. If all states expanded Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, an additional 4.3 million uninsured young adults could gain coverage. Currently, 25 states have decided not to move forward with expansion.
3. Forty-three percent of the uninsured young adult population is aged 19 to 24, and 57 percent are 25 to 34 years old.
4. Although 25 percent of young adults across the economic spectrum feel they don't need health insurance, only 11 percent of those that are uninsured say they don't have insurance because they don't need it.
More Articles on Medicaid:
White House Pushes Nebraska to Expand Medicaid
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell Rejects Medicaid Expansion
Missouri Senate Committee Votes Against Medicaid Expansion