More young adults may be insured as a result of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, reports a study from the independent RAND Corporation. The corporation carried out a study examining more than 480,000 emergency room visits between 2009 and 2011, comparing the number of insured young adults to older adults.
They found that by 2011, 22,000 young adults reported having new health insurance linked with the Affordable Care Act. This marked a three percent increase in young adults with insurance after the bill was signed into law.
"The change allowing young people to remain on their parents' medical insurance is protecting young adults and their families from the significant financial risk posed by emergency medical care. Hospitals are benefiting, too, because they are treating fewer uninsured young people for emergency ailments," lead author Andrew Mulcahy, a health policy researcher at RAND, said in a press release.
"Because we looked at only the most-serious emergency cases to rule out the influence of insurance on the decision to seek health care, we probably underestimate the full financial benefits that the new rules have provided to young adults who need urgent medical care."
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