Real health care reform for young Americans means coverage that is affordable, competitive, continuous, comprehensive and fair. The following details the priorities of organizations representing millions of young Americans. We urge the leadership from the House to seize this opportunity to ensure coverage for millions of Americans and pass the Senate bill. We urge the Senate to address the concerns in the legislation, which are the concerns of so many Americans, by immediately improving the bill through reconciliation. We hope that House and Senate leadership will address our country’s most uninsured and economically vulnerable population by including the below priorities (in addition to those proposed by House leadership) that are important to young people in a reconciliation bill:
• Expand Comprehensive Coverage
• Improve the Senate’s Catastrophic Plan: While providing a low-cost
option for young and low- and moderate-income Americans is a
worthy goal, the current version of the catastrophic plan provides
insurance in name only. An affordable option must instead:
• Require 3 primary care visits with a $25 pre-deductible co-pay and
ER visits with a $100 pre-deductible co-pay
• Extend Dependent Coverage to Age 27: The House and Senate extensions
of dependent coverage would insure an additional 2.25 million
young Americans, respectively.
• Expand Medicaid: Adopting the House position on eligibility (up to
150 percent FPL, rather than the Senate’s 133 percent FPL) covers
over 1.2 million more uninsured young Americans.
• Ensure Affordability
• Set Subsidy Levels at an Affordable Level: Adopt the House subsidy
structure for families earning at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty
Level and the Senate subsidy structure for families earning between
300% and 400% of the Federal Poverty Level.
• Implement 3:1 Age Rating: Adopting the Senate’s 3:1 level will balance
the needs of all generations by taking into account the comparatively
high costs of medical care for older Americans, comparatively low
