Healthcare reform's insured: Single males

LOS ANGELES, May 11 (UPI) -- Giving more access to healthcare may cost more but it will not mean rationing as some claimed during the debate on healthcare reform, a California study found.

Researchers at the Center for Health Policy Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, say expanding coverage to 4.57 million of the previously uninsured or under-insured will increase system-wide health spending.

However, most of the Californians likely to be eligible for federally mandated health insurance coverage under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2014 are also those least likely to excessively use costly health services -- men, singles and/or those of working age ages 18-44, the researcher say.

"Costs will go up but may also be mitigated by the relative youth and health of the eligible population," lead author Nadereh Pourat says in a statement. "And by bringing so many young Californians into the system, we may even reduce risk system-wide."

The researchers say those eligible for coverage tend to be as healthy as those with employer-based coverage or those already covered by Medi-Cal.

"This is California's workforce," Pourat says. "Younger, relatively healthy and, in many cases, male, they have been blocked from access to insurance by high costs and deductibles. Healthcare reform is now giving them a way into the system."