Nearly 5 in 10 Uninsured Single Young Adults Eligible for the Health Insurance Marketplace Could Pay $50 or Less Per month for Coverage in 2014

Under the Affordable Care Act, advanced payment of the premium tax credits will be available to help eligible individuals and families afford insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.3

Young adults ages 18 to 34 in households of any type (e.g., own-family household, single-person household, living away at college, parents’ household) account for 41 percent of the 41.3 million eligible uninsured nationwide.⁴ Young adults are the age group most likely to be without health insurance coverage⁵ and, therefore, are a key target for outreach and enrollment activities. Of uninsured young adults, 63 percent are considered as living in single-person households for health insurance purposes. Table 1 shows summary statistics for young adults.

This report focuses on the 7.2 million eligible uninsured young adults in single-person households in the 34 states with Federally-facilitated or State Partnership Marketplaces because we have premium information on all available plans for those states. We have more limited premium information for some State-based Marketplaces; therefore, we cannot at this time compare all 50 states and the District of Columbia.⁶

Of the 7.2 million eligible uninsured single young adults in the 34 states, 2.9 million may be Marketplace-eligible.7 Of these potentially Marketplace-eligible uninsured single young adults, approximately 1.9 million, or nearly two-thirds (66 percent) of the 2.9 million potentially eligible for Marketplace coverage, may be able to pay $100 or less per month in 2014.

An additional 1 million eligible uninsured single young adults may qualify for Medicaid in the states that have opted to expand the program in 2014.  Together with the 1.9 million who may be able to buy coverage in the Marketplace for $100 per month or less, 40 percent (2.9 million) of the 7.2 million eligible uninsured single young adults in the 34 states may qualify for coverage through Medicaid or through the Marketplaces for $100 per month or less. If each of the 34 states expanded its Medicaid program, the proportion of young adults who could obtain low-cost coverage would be even greater.  Nearly 9 in 10 (86 percent, or 6.2 million) uninsured single young adults could be eligible for coverage costing less than $100 per month if all 34 states expanded their Medicaid programs.