US uninsurance rate drops to 13.4%, record low

[Badger]

The question remains: Why are young people disproportionately uninsured compared to other age groups?

Because they are immature and think than they are invisible, young and than only old people have healthcare needs.

Oh, and--today more than ever--they're poorer than their elders. And dramatically less likely to enter the workforce in a job that provides health insurance.

Those MIGHT be factors as well. Just saying.

[Badger]

What? The law mandating people get insurance was put into place and the percentage of people without insurance dropped?! Truly this is an incredible achievement and goes to show how successful the ACA is!

Coming up next, hear the amazing tale of how decreasing the speed limit on the highway causes the average speed to decline!

So you're saying......both laws work?

[Badger]

The real good numbers in this poll is that the drop is more significant with 18-34 year olds than 35-64 year olds:

Question: Why is the uninsured rate for 25-34 year olds higher than 18-24 year olds? How does their overtaking of the youngs in 2011 in the context of the long-term numbers?

18-25 are often covered by their parents insurance.

Yes, and many people like to act like The New Economy doesn't exist.  Even after the "recovery" many people in their twenties are still living with their parents and working at Starbucks hoping that their law degree will eventually get them a job that will hopefully pay off their student loan debts by the age of 50.
Of course when you have hundreds of thousands in student loan debt and you are earning $9.25/hr and working probably 30 hours a week (if you're lucky) it's going to be hard to justify paying for a decent health insurance plan on top of all of your already large debt unless you have a plan that is already covered by your employer (if you are lucky enough to have a job to begin with and are not relying on selling rocks on ebay or something).

But yet, some of you would rather blame twenty somethings for being cocky youthful assholes who think they are invincible rather than acknowledge the crooked system that has resulted in most Americans having mountains of debt they will be lucky to have paid off by the time they are retired.  I am not blaming the ACA for this as I believe the symptoms of the problem existed long before it.  Actually, ACA, as much as I disagree with the concept of it (making more and more Americans succumb to greedy bloodsucking insurance companies), has done at least a little bit of good in allowing young adults to stay on their parents insurance until the age of 26, expanding the eligibility and funding for Medicaid, making restrictions on what insurance companies can deny coverage on, etc etc.  I'm not going to say that it is a step in the right direction, but it was better than doing nothing.  Hopefully people over the age of 26 will try to take advantage of the exchanges so they aren't forced to bend over and take it from the various companies out there.  However, the problem will continue to persist, regardless of how much percentage of a poor/middle class person's yearly income you are charging for not having the audacity to buy insurance.

So what is the problem?  People are still paying for healthcare.

Excellent post, Mech! I'd quibble with the last line because someone will ALWAYS "pay" for healthcare, whether through increased taxes for a single-payer system, a Rube Goldberg mix of higher taxes and insurance compnies trading absorbtion of previous non-insurables with pre-existing conditions in exchange for a larger market of youngs buying insurance, or whatever.

Other then that, it belongs in the Good Post thread.

[Badger]

I have insurance because of it and I am immensely grateful.

Begging for crumbs off of the master's table? Even the True Left know better than to do that.

In general, the US understands that our healthcare system is broken. ACA proposes to make the broken system cover more Americans. If voters don't see what's going on, they shouldn't be voting.

Refer to Mechaman's post.

Mechman's post essentially championed the exact opposite of every rationale ou've ever 'argued' on this forum.

You really don't have a clue what you're saying, do you? It's the debate equivilent of watching a dog chase it's tail.

[Badger]

Mechman's post essentially championed the exact opposite of every rationale ou've ever 'argued' on this forum.

You really don't have a clue what you're saying, do you? It's the debate equivilent of watching a dog chase it's tail.

I'm one of the young people Mechaman's post. I'm tired of being ripped off by a system that panders to old married people, who've borrowed the US into bigger problems than it faced during stagflation. I'm lucky not to be amongst the ranks of the under-employed, but I'm not amused by the ineptitude of our government that provides nothing and charges a great deal per capita.

The difference between Mechaman and me is (judging by the avatar) that Mechaman blames private industry, while I understand that the government is simply raking one demographic over the coals to satisfy another demographic of people.

Young people have been taxed out of the workplace, and then graciously given permission to commit financial suicide by borrowing.

You truly believe that the private sector has less influence over health care economics than the government? Really?