Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Health Law Pitch To Young Adults: Coffee Shop Fliers, College Outreach
Gone are the splashy tweets about health coverage from Katy Perry and the 鈥渂rosurance鈥 ads featuring guys doing keg stands. Fliers in coffee shops and bars are in, as are partnerships with community colleges and job training centers. Millennials are still a critical demographic for Obamacare, but young adults are being wooed very differently in Year Two of enrollment. They showed last year that they鈥檙e not slackers when it comes to the health care law 鈥 disproving fears that they鈥檇 feel too invincible to want insurance 鈥 so the approach now is quieter, better targeted, more local, according to advocates. And the data so far suggest it鈥檚 on track, they say. (Villacorta, 1/28)
The share of young adults signing up health law coverage is about the same as last year, a sobering development for insurers seeking younger, healthier people to add to their risk pools. Individuals who are 18 to 34 years old comprise 26 percent of the newly-insured population, compared to 25 percent enrolled through Feb. 1, 2014, according to data the Department of Health and Human Services released Tuesday. (Adams, 1/26)
Many Latinos find themselves caught between immigration policies and health-insurance rules that make it difficult to sign up for coverage available through the Affordable Care Act before the Feb. 15 deadline. (Hoban, 1/28)
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the percentage of people of color who do not have health insurance is projected to fall dramatically by 2016, greatly narrowing the historic disparities in coverage between whites and nonwhites. But one minority group is likely to benefit less than others: African-Americans. (Wiltz, 1/27)