Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 01/2010

ObamaCare: A Bad Deal for Young Adults

Aaron Yelowitz

November 2009

The Cato Institute

Abstract

One of the most interesting questions about the health care overhaul now moving through Congress is how it would affect young adults. That legislation would force most or all Americans to purchase health insurance (an "individual mandate") and would impose price controls on health insurance ("community rating") that would limit insurers' ability to offer lower premiums to low-risk enrollees.