Health Plan hinges on the young, but they’re a tough sell

But Obamacare also hinges on the young participating. And if they don’t, they have the pay the IRS fine. 

 Julian Senn-Raemont isn’t convinced he needs to buy health insurance when he loses coverage under his dad’s plan in a couple of years – no matter what happens in the policy debate in Washington, or how cheap the plans are.

The 24-year-old musician hasn’t known a world without a health care safety net. But he hates being forced by law to get coverage, and doesn’t think he needs it.

“I’m playing the odds,” said Senn-Raemont, who lives in Woodstock, Illinois. He will go without insurance, he said, until he starts a family or gets a job with benefits. “I feel comfortable I could get care if I needed it.”

Senn-Raemont’s outlook could pose a major problem for Republicans who await a delayed vote on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.

And yet, Obamacare relies just as much on the young to pay those $1000/yr premiums when they spend less than $100/yr on healthcare costs. They are smart enough to skip the premiums and pay out of pocket — just like 20-somethings have been doing since I was in college. 

Insurers need young and healthy enrollees like him to buy insurance because they keep premiums down for everyone. The current law attempts to do that by mandating that everyone get coverage. The Republican plan replaces that mandate with penalties for those who let coverage lapse, and aims to entice young adults by allowing insurance companies to sell bare-bones coverage that could be cheaper.

But cheap isn’t free, which turns off people like Senn-Raemont. And other young adults worry that opening the door to these bare-bones plans will make the more comprehensive coverage they know now too expensive or even unavailable.

2 thoughts on “Health Plan hinges on the young, but they’re a tough sell”

  1. Scott Dredge

    “I feel comfortable I could get care if I needed it.” This is true since insurers can’t deny pre-existing conditions. Seems like nirvana if paying for insurance payments can be avoided until you need the insurers to pay for exorbitant medical expense. Maybe this can be extended to thinks like car insurance where you can wait until after you wreck your car to buy insurance a pittance that will pay for all liabilities and damages. Also, maybe casinos will catch on as well where you can by insurance after the dealer has hit blackjack.

    1. He didn’t say “I feel comfortable I could get health care if I needed it.”

      No one is turned away from emergency rooms in the US. Everyone has access to care.

      The question is whether health care should be a constitutional right.

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