Blue Cross backs extended coverage for young adults COMMENTARY Denise S. Cesare

WHILE THE presidential candidates debated their solutions for the problem of the uninsured, their ranks continued to grow.

According to recent Census Bureau data, 47 million people in the United States were uninsured in 2006. In Pennsylvania, the governor’s office has reported that nearly 767,000 Pennsylvania adults are not insured.

One of the largest segments of the uninsured population consists of young people between the ages of 19 and 29. About 13.7 million adults in that category were not covered by health insurance in 2006, an increase of 3 percent over 2005, according to the Commonwealth Fund, an independent foundation.

And even though they represent only 17 percent of the U.S. population under 65 years of age, young adults represent 30 percent of the uninsured.

Why do many of these young adults find themselves without insurance? This group often loses coverage at the pivotal age of 19. While some young adults might continue under their parents’ coverage during their college years, many have “aged off” of their parents’ employer policies and often are taking part-time jobs that all too frequently don’t offer health insurance.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, the numbers of uninsured increase two and a half times starting at the age of 19, going from 12 percent of children age 18 and under, to 30 percent of adults age 19 to 29. These numbers are staggering, and states throughout the nation have tried to address this situation by passing laws that extend coverage of dependents beyond the age of 19 under parents’ insurance policies.

The Pennsylvania Senate recently passed Senate Bill 1453 requiring insurance companies to offer coverage to single, childless children of policy holders, at the policy holder’s discretion, through age 29. The bill enjoys wide support in the legislature and is part of the governor’s “Prescription for Pennsylvania” health care reform plan.

Referred to in some circles as the “slacker mandate,” this bill is not a mandate as we typically know it in the insurance industry. Generally speaking, most mandates drive up the cost of health insurance because they frequently force insurers to cover specific medical costs – such as certain health screenings, specific diseases or mandated hospital lengths of stay following childbirth. These costs are passed on from insurers to employers regardless of the employers’ specific need for the benefit or ability to absorb the associated increased costs.

Rather, Senate Bill 1453 requires that insurance companies must provide policy holders with the option to keep dependents on their coverage beyond the age of 19 without significantly increasing health insurance costs. We, at Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, support this bill as one way among many to address the problem of the uninsured.

Sixteen years ago, Gov. Robert P. Casey signed the Children’s Health Insurance Act, which resulted in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP provides health insurance coverage to children under the age of 18 whose families earn too much to qualify for Medical Assistance but cannot afford private insurance. Five years after its introduction in 1992, CHIP became the model for the national program SCHIP, which provides insurance to children nationwide.

Like CHIP, we have another opportunity to extend coverage to a young segment of our population. While the 19-to-29 age group tends to be healthy and, as such, perhaps not in the greatest immediate need of coverage, people of all ages can have catastrophic events or contract life-threatening diseases, some of which, if treated early, can improve long-term health outcomes.

Extending health coverage to the 19-to-29 age group provides those young adults with the protection they need for healthier lives, at a time when, in many ways, their lives are just beginning.

Denise S. Cesare is president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, based in Wilkes-Barre. Information available online at www.bcnepa.com.

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