Age Ratio

What’s the issue

Today, young adults in almost all states can get age-related discounts on their health insurance premiums.  These discounts reflect young adults’ lower chance of needing costly medical care.  However, two bills being debated in Congress would restrict these discounts by limiting the how much less a young person’s premium can be in relation to older adults.  The proposed bills limit the ratio to a ratio of 2:1.  This means an 18-year-old’s premium could never be less than half of a 64-year-old’s premium – a major departure from current state regulations that often allow younger individuals to pay just one-fifth of the premium charged to older people in the same health plan.

Why it matters

Restricting age-related discounts in many cases would make health insurance too expensive for young people, who already represent the nation’s largest uninsured group.  As shown in the following hypothetical example, shifting to a 2:1 ratio could lead to substantial premium increases for younger adults compared with the 5:1 ratio used in most states today.

This change would have severe unintended consequences such as driving younger people to go uninsured and creating “sticker shock” for those considering buying coverage.  Premium increases would also hurt young people just starting out in their careers, who typically have less income than older adults and therefore have greater difficulty affording coverage.

How to take action

It’s imperative that healthcare reform not compromise the availability of age-related discounts on health insurance.  Click here to remind your Members of Congress that over 40 percent of the uninsured are between the ages of 18 and 34 today.  And tell them to support 5:1 age adjustments rather than overly restrictive 2:1 caps to ensure that young adults have more access to affordable health coverage after reform – not less.

Click below to find out who to contact for your area:

Contact your Official