Affordable Coverage for Young People At Stake

Health care reform is a year old, and opponents of the law have used a variety of avenues to attack its legitimacy, including several lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.  To date, numerous federal court judges have thrown these cases out, and three judges specifically ruled the law constitutional.  In just two of the cases filed, judges found one provision of the ACA, the “individual responsibility” provision (the one requiring everyone to buy health insurance or pay a tax), unconstitutional.   Legal experts expected these rulings, given the conservative tendencies of both of those judges.

The Obama administration has since appealed both of those cases to higher courts. Young Invincibles filed an amicus brief in the 4th circuit, and plans to the do the same in the 11th circuit telling the courts why reform is so critical to young people. Regardless of the outcome, the case will almost certainly be appealed to the Supreme Court. Most constitutional scholars say that this provision is constitutional.  We expect that these courts will too.

So what is at stake here for young people? A lot.  When people don’t get coverage, they go to the emergency room when they get sick and pass the cost of that care on to others.  Congress found that this uncovered care results in an extra cost on your insurance bill of about $1,000 per family.  By helping low-income people to purchase insurance through subsidies, and requiring everyone to take responsibility and get coverage, the ACA both broadens the risk pool and eliminates the implicit tax on your premiums, making insurance cheaper.  This also ensures that a key part of the health care law, ending discrimination against those who are really sick, will not be a pretense for insurers to jack up premiums.

In other words, the provision that requires minimum coverage is there to lower costs for the population as a whole, and give coverage to those who are sick and really need it.  Studies show that the idea that young people consider themselves to be invincible is, in fact, a cultural myth: when young people can afford insurance, they purchase it.  So we’re all for making insurance much more affordable here at Young Invincibles.

Jen Mishory works as the Deputy Director at Young Invincibles, steering their legal and policy work.  Jen graduated with a JD from Georgetown Law in 2010, and a BA from UCLA in 2007.  She blogs on Millenial policy semi-regularly at https://younginvincibles.org/blog/.