Document Type
Master's Culminating Experience
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
Health care reform in the United States, as codified in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), includes an individual mandate to insure that all citizens are participants in public or privately funded health insurance programs. Universal participation insures that the national risk pool of insured persons will include the broadest spectrum of patient utilizers from the very healthy, who are low utilizers, to the very sick who are high utilizers of health care services. It is only through this high level of participation that the increased services and cost savings of health care reform can be realized. Key to this comprehensive risk pool is the category of potential patients referred to as the young invincibles (YI), typically healthy, low utilizers of services who will in the long run benefit most from prevention and screening services. Additionally, comprehensive health care services earlier in life result in healthier middle aged and older people which has the potential of further reducing health care costs overall. This study reviews the participation of YI in the ACA market place. The first objective of this study was to look at the projected and desired number of YI anticipated to enroll in the ACA health insurance market in the first open enrollment period that ran from November 15, 2013 to March 31, 2014. The second objective was to evaluate the extent to which these critical goals were met. Lastly, the study focuses on describing outreach methods used to enroll YI in a health insurance plan under the ACA.
Repository Citation
Ishimwe, E. K. (2014). The Importance of the Young Invincibles to the Success of the Affordable Care. Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
