ACA Medicaid Expansion Cut Young Adult Uninsurance in Half

The number of uninsured young adults fell nearly 50 percent after the Affordable Care Act authorized states to expand their Medicaid programs, a new study has found.

According to the Urban Institute, the uninsured rate among people between the ages of 19 and 25 fell from 30.2 percent to 16 percent between 2011 and 2018, with most of the decline coming between 2013 and 2016, when the first round of states expanded their Medicaid programs.

The decline in the rate of uninsured young adults mirrored declines in the overall U.S. uninsured rate, which fell from 27.7 percent to 11.3 percent in states that expanded their Medicaid programs.

Learn more about how implementation of the Affordable Care Act affected the insurance status of young adults in the Urban Institute report “Impacts of the ACA’s Medicaid Expansion on Health Insurance Coverage and Health Care Access Among Young Adults.”