Space
Young Invincibles tackle
health insurance issues
by Marcella Durand
Young people living with MS already know
they have insurance needs. The Affordable
Care Act includes a few game changers.
According to a study pub- lished by The Commonwealth Fund, there are currently
14. 8 million uninsured young
adults in the U.S. “For a lot of
young people, health care can
be hard to afford. Sometimes
they avoid care to avoid costs,
which hurts their health,” said
Aaron Smith, the co-founder
and executive director of
Young Invincibles, a health-care
advocacy group for people
aged 18 to 34.
But the times they are
a-changin’. Young Invincibles,
founded in 2009 at the height
of the debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA), pushed for
provisions that would address
the health-care issues of young
adults.
ERIK DREYER/GETTY IMAGES
“We felt that we didn’t have
much of a voice in the process,
even though we are the largest
group of uninsured people in
the country,” Smith continued.
The group, initially run out
of a school cafeteria, quickly
expanded to a national organization that conducts research,
runs educational campaigns,
and advocates to make sure their
voices are heard.
Current statistics show that
one million young people have
now gained insurance because of
the ACA legislation.
Dependent
coverage,
“mini-meds”
and young people with MS
One piece of legislation that
Young Invincibles pushed hard
for was the ACA’s dependent
coverage provision. As of
September 2010, adult children
up to age 26 may stay on a
parent’s plan, including those
who are married, financially
independent or in school.
All employers, even large
“self-insured” ones, have to
comply, but there is one exception. Group plans in effect on
March 23, 2010, when the ACA
became law, are “grandfathered.”
They do not have to offer depen-
dent coverage up to age 26 if an
adult child is eligible for other
insurance—such as an employer-offered plan. (This may change
in 2014.)
This exception creates a hitch:
some employers—McDonald’s,
for example—offer what is
known as “mini-meds,” which
are limited-benefit insurance
plans with coverage limits (often
as low as $2,000). Many mini-meds are offered to low-wage
retail workers, which tend to
include students and recent
graduates.
In cases like these—
particularly for a young person with a
