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Study Shows Millions of ‘Young Invincibles’ Eligible for Medicaid

Young Adults Comprise 52% of Those Newly Eligible for Medicaid
November 20, 2013

Nearly 5.4 million uninsured young adults ages 19-34 are currently eligible for Medicaid or will become eligible for Medicaid in January, according to a newreport released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. These newly eligible ‘young invincibles’ live in states that opted to expand Medicaid coverage to individuals with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

 

Experts say there are lessons that state governments can draw upon in reaching and enrolling these young adults. Authored by researchers at the Urban Institute, the report says that many of these young adults have a prior or ongoing relationship with existing social programs, which could be leveraged to help ease their enrollment into Medicaid. They say efforts targeted at households where residents receive unemployment assistance, help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Medicaid benefits for uninsured children could reach as many as half of these uninsured-but-eligible adults.

 

The study also underscores that the young adults eligible for Medicaid are not a homogenous group. About one in five of the uninsured young adults who will be eligible for Medicaid are students; 42 percent work; 18 percent are unemployed.

 

“Just because people in their 20s and early 30s are sometimes referred to as ‘young invincibles’ does not mean that they are immune from disease or accidents or needing routine health services,” said Katherine Hempstead, who leads coverage issues at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Reaching these young adults to make sure they understand their options for free or low-cost health insurance is a critical first step in helping them get the health care they need.”

 

Experts say an estimated 4.3 million uninsured adults with incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty line will not be eligible for Medicaid in January because they live in states where the program is not being expanded.

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