About half of the estimated 15 million uninsured U.S. residents who could obtain coverage under the federal health reform law's Medicaid expansion are between ages 19 and 34, according to a study released Friday by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Hill's "Healthwatch" reports (Baker, "Healthwatch," The Hill, 8/10).
Study Details
The federal health reform law provides states federal funding for states to expand Medicaid coverage to 138% of the federal poverty level.
For the report, researchers assumed that all states would expand Medicaid coverage, although the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act made states' participation in the expansion optional.
Study Findings
The study found that about 35% of individuals who would be eligible under the expansion are ages 35 to 54, while about 15% -- or two million -- are ages 55 to 64.
Around 82%, or 12.4 million, of newly eligible adults do not have children, according to the study. However, a total of 4.6 million uninsured women who could become eligible are of reproductive age, defined by the study as age 19 to 44. Fifty-three percent of newly eligible uninsured adults are male, according to the report.
The study also found that:
- 55% of the newly eligible population is white;
- 19% is Hispanic;
- 19% is black; and
- 7% is "another race," according to CQ HealthBeat (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 8/10).