The perils of turning 26: when US millennials lose their parents' healthcare [View all]

[HuckleB]

The Affordable Care Act extended coverage to millions of young adults, but many are reaching the cutoff point and risk falling through the gaps
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/11/the-perils-of-turning-26-when-us-millennials-lose-their-parents-healthcare-cover

"Chanel White is dreading her 26th birthday. It is not ageing itself that she’s worried about; what she fears is losing her parents’ health insurance.

White, 24, is one of several million young people in the US who were able to be put on their parents’ insurance scheme after Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) was introduced, extending the age at which people “aged out” of a parental scheme from 18 to 25.

For White, such coverage was crucial. Months before her wedding in 2011, and at the age of just 19, she realised she was very sick. Her hands had been swelling and turning purple, her joints hurt and she was losing her hair.

She was soon diagnosed with the debilitating and potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease systemic scleroderma. She had to undergo an invasive procedure to open up her blood vessels and had a finger amputated. There were countless appointments with doctors and specialists to help figure out how to treat the complex disease as it developed. At the time of diagnosis, she was not covered by her parents’ scheme and so received all this treatment without health insurance.

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This is not to bash the ACA. Just noting that we need to improve on the improvement.