The silver lining in the bad Census news about poverty released last week was that the rate of uninsured young people, 18-24, has significantly decreased since the provision in the Affordable Care Act allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance was enacted.
Gallup has new polling that bears that out.
About one in four (24.2%) 18- to 25-year-olds reported being uninsured in the second quarter of this year, down from 28% in the third quarter of 2010, and nearly the lowest Gallup has measured at any point since it began tracking health insurance coverage rates in 2008.[...]
The provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows children up to the age of 26 to remain on their parents' plans appears to be having an immediate effect on the number of Americans who report they have health insurance. Since it went into effect in September 2010, the percentage of 18- to 25-year-olds who report being uninsured has significantly declined by four percentage points.
Unfortunately, there's also some bad news:
The percentage of uninsured 26- to 64-year-olds, however, continues to increase, rising to a high of 19.9% in the second quarter of this year. Among all Americans, 17.4% reported being uninsured in the second quarter of the year.
Which makes it a bad time for any cuts to Medicaid that could reduce the number of people it serves or the number of providers who will accept Medicaid patients. It would also be a very bad time to resurrect the idea of raising the Medicare eligibility age, given the high level of unemployment among older Americans.