NEW YORK, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Eighty-eight percent of U.S. adults ages 19-29 say it is important for Congress to pass healthcare reform legislation, a survey indicates.
The Commonwealth Fund survey, conducted by Social Science Research Solutions, released Friday says 45 percent, or approximately 20 million young adults, were uninsured at some time during the past year.
Commonwealth Fund researchers Jennifer Nicholson and Sara Collins say 45 percent of those who had health insurance lost their insurance or had to change insurance coverage when they graduated from high school.
Two-thirds who had insurance while they were in college had to change coverage or lost their health insurance completely when they graduated -- some for two or more years.
Sixty-two percent of young adults are strongly or somewhat in favor of a requirement that everyone have health insurance, while 82 percent of young adults support increasing the number of years they can receive coverage under their parents' policies -- which is part of the proposed legislation.
Three-quarters of the respondents strongly or somewhat favor increasing the eligibility age for Medicaid and state health insurance to age 26 -- a policy that is not part of the current health reform legislation.
The national telephone survey of 2,002 adults ages 19-29 -- some to landlines and some to cellphones -- was conducted May 12 to July 2. The survey has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
