FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 15, 2017
Contact: Sarah Schultz, 

New Analysis Finds Up to One in Three Young Adults Could Get Hit by Continuous Coverage Penalty

Young Adults are About 70 Percent More Likely to Trigger Penalty Than Older Adults Under 65

[WASHINGTON]–On the heels of the release of the American Health Care Act, Young Invincibles released a new analysis on one of the bill’s most controversial provisions, the continuous coverage requirement that penalizes individuals who experience a gap in coverage exceeding 63 days. This new analysis finds that the requirement, or Millennial Penalty, would disproportionately burden young adults, ultimately spoiling the risk pool and inflating premiums for everyone.

Jen Mishory, executive director of Young Invincibles, released the following statement on the new analysis:

“The Millennial Penalty works directly against any stated attempts to bring down costs and increase coverage by punishing primarily young consumers for brief, common lapses in coverage. As many as one-third of young adults experience gaps in coverage over the course of the year. Cutting Medicaid and subsidies for low-income consumers already reduces coverage options for young people; the Millennial Penalty, or continuous coverage penalty, would cut young adult coverage further, while hiking up prices by discouraging the healthiest consumers from enrolling.”

Key findings in the new analysis include:

• As many as one-third of young consumers experience a gap in coverage over the course of a year, which could force them to pay higher premiums because of the 30 percent surcharge.

• Young adults, are about 70 percent more likely to face the surcharge than older generations

• The surcharge will make healthy consumers – especially cost-sensitive young adults – far less likely to enroll, ultimately harming the risk pool and increasing premiums.

Click here to read the full analysis.