CNN reports that the White House tamps down expectations that the exchanges will meet CBO's original projection that 40 percent of enrollees would be between the ages of 18 and 34. Also, Politico Pro looks at the large number of states that are not carrying out health law provision that allows young adults who were enrolled in Medicaid before aging out of foster care to receive coverage through age 26.
CNN: White House Appears To Scale-Back Expectations For Younger Obamacare Signups
The Obama administration appears to be scaling back its expectations for enrollment of young adults under the Affordable Care Act. For months, administration officials embraced estimates by the Congressional Budget Office anticipating 2.7 million of the 7 million enrollees under Obamacare by the end of March would be people between the ages of 18 and 34, or nearly 40 % of the total. The overall metric is critical for making the program work economically. The larger the pool of healthy, younger people paying premiums, the lower the cost of providing coverage for older, sicker enrollees (Acosta, 2/25).
Politico Pro: ACA Coverage For Former Foster Youth Out Of Reach
A provision in the Affordable Care Act intended to expand coverage for former foster care youths has been tripped up in implementation, putting health insurance out of reach for tens of thousands of young people. The provision is intended to allow young adults who were enrolled in Medicaid before aging out of foster care to receive coverage through age 26, regardless of their income or state of residence. ... But CMS has left it up to each state to decide whether to cover young people who were in foster care outside of its borders. And since the measure took effect in January, less than a quarter of states have chosen to offer Medicaid coverage to this group (Kalter, 2/25).
