WASHINGTON (AP) — Younger people went for President Barack Obama at election time, but will they buy his health insurance? New government figures show it's an older, costlier crowd that's signing up so far for health insurance under Obama's health care law. With the HealthCare.gov website now working, the figures cover the more than 2 million Americans who had signed up for government-subsidized private insurance through the end of December in new federal and state markets. "The dynamic of younger people is that they are going to get educated, they are going to get informed, and they are going to enroll as we get closer to that deadline," said Aaron Smith, founder of Young Invincibles, an advocacy group for young adults. Administration officials said that in the coming weeks they plan to increase outreach to young people in 25 communities located in states served by the federal website. [...] even if the age mix remains tilted toward older adults, "it's nothing of the sort that would trigger instability in the system," said Larry Levitt, an insurance expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Premiums would go up next year for the overhaul, along with taxpayer costs per enrollee, but not enough to push the system into a "death spiral" in which rising premiums discourage healthy people from signing up. "Many people have a preconceived notion that young people are healthy and don't need to go to the doctor," said Sylvain, who suffered a minor injury when she fell and hit her head during an indoor soccer class in 2012.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 14 hours ago.
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