Cost May Still Pose Insurmountable Barrier To Health Coverage For Many.

The New York Times (4/20, Rabin) reports, "According to the Congressional Budget Office, some 32 million more Americans will have insurance by 2019 under the new [healthcare] law, about half of whom will be buying health insurance on the individual market for the first time (the other half will be covered for the first time under Medicaid, which is being expanded to include more of the poor)." Yet, some experts are "skeptical that so many uninsured people would actually start buying insurance." Data show that most uninsured people "earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level," and 60% cite price as the main barrier to obtaining health coverage. Still, officials say that the new law includes subsidies which will help to offset the cost of health insurance.

Some Health Insurers Extending Young Adult Coverage Ahead Of Sept. 23 Deadline. USA Today (4/20, Young) reports that on Monday, "UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, and WellPoint said they will put into effect some provisions of the new healthcare law ahead of schedule to let adult children stay on parents' plans until age 26." Although "the law's provisions relating to young adults won't take effect until Sept. 23...the companies said they are changing rules now to prevent young adults from falling into a coverage gap. Many plans have required adult children stay in school to keep dependent coverage, and age cutoffs vary by state."

The AP (4/20) reports that "UnitedHealth...said its extension starts immediately and extends coverage that graduating college students currently have from their parents until the healthcare reform provision takes effect.." For its part, WellPoint "said its extension starts June 1 and will extend coverage to all dependents." Notably, "the extension, which maintains coverage for young customers who generally use less healthcare, is not expected to affect premiums overall."

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/20, Yee), "Minnesota insurers said Monday they are looking at the issue. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota said it would follow the lead of the national insurers for its members in the individual and small group markets," while "Medica said it would do so for members in the individual market, according to the Minnesota Council of Health Plans."

Modern Healthcare (4/20, Vesely, subscription required), Dow Jones Newswire (4/20, Wisenberg, subscription required) also cover the story, as did the NPR (4/19, Rovner) "Shots" blog and the Business Courier of Cincinnati (4/19).

Middle-Income Americans Losing Health Insurance Faster Than Others. The New York Times (4/19, Andrews) "Prescriptions" blog reported, "A combination of rising health insurance premiums and falling wages has hit middle-income people especially hard, causing them to lose health insurance coverage faster than workers both poorer and richer than they are," according to data released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "Over the 10-year period between 1999 and 2008, more than two million people with incomes from 200 to 399 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly $44,000 to $88,000 for a family of four), became uninsured -- an increase of 2.4 percentage points to 12.9 million people." That "represents an uninsurance rate of 16.2 percent," whereas "the 5.9 million people with incomes at or greater than 400 percent of poverty experienced an increase in uninsurance of 1 percentage point, to 5.8 percent in 2008."