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Showing posts from December, 2013

Are Younger Employees Really an Asset to Health Plans?

We’ve been bombarded by news lately, proclaiming that The Affordable Health Care Act can only be successful if vast numbers of young adults join the plans.   And news that many, if not most, young adults have little or no interest in participating has also made headlines. Further, there are reports that a substantial numbers of young adults don’t even know about it.   But, who has evaluated the underlying claim cost data?   How does one know it is correct? I, for one, have very serious doubts that young adults are significantly cheaper to insure. Here’s why. 1.        As a CFO, I’ve been involved in purchasing employee health plans, and negotiating the terms and features of those plans.   I frequently asked to see the data supporting the assertion that health costs were concentrated in the older age cohort but never did.   Insurance companies and third-party administrators acted like there was rock-solid support for the claim that younger people have lower medical costs, bu