Young adults, ages 19 to 29, are more likely to be uninsured than any other age group, and are the fastest growing uninsured population in the country. In 2004 young adults represented 17 percent of the non-elderly population, but 30 percent of the uninsured. They also accounted for 40 percent of the growth in uninsured people between 2000 and 2004. Young adults often fall off of their parents’ health plans with no alternative source of coverage, disproportionately work at low-income jobs classified as part-time or temporary that offer no health benefits, and have seen falling real incomes in recent decades making this age group less able to afford commercial insurance. While often discounted as a relatively healthy population, young adults have special health care needs. For example, one third of all HIV diagnoses are made among young adults, injury-related visits to emergency departments are far more common among this group, they have seen the fastest growing rates of obesity, and 3.5 million out of 21 million women ages 19 to 29 each year become pregnant.

A health care system based on workplace coverage and ability to pay discriminates heavily against young adults, who are increasingly disadvantaged in the labor market and have seen falling real incomes in the United States. A universal single payer health care system would make comprehensive access to health care available, regardless of age, job status, or income.

Further Resources:

• “Rite of Passage? Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help,” The Commonwealth Fund, May 24, 2006.
• “On their Own: Young Adults Living Without Health Insurance,” The Commonwealth Fund, May 1, 2000.
• “The Changing Definition of ‘Dependent’: Who is Insured and For How Long?” National Conference of State Legislatures, February 2008.
• “Young and Uninsured,” Wiretap Magazine, November 23, 2005.
• “Young adult plans limit coverage: State’s low-cost insurance can be risky, report says,” Boston Globe, May 29, 2007.
• “Young adults aren’t sold on health law: Options weighed as plan takes effect,” Boston Globe, July 1, 2007.