Perhaps due to a lack of or inconsistent insurance coverage, young adults age 18 to 25 tend to go to the doctor's office less often than children or adolescents, yet have higher rates of emergency room use, finds a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The study found that of the nearly 3,800 young adults surveyed in 2009, 21 percent had health insurance for only part of the year while 27 percent were completely uninsured.
"The type and the duration of insurance coverage matter for health care utilization," said Josephine Lau, M.D., MPH, clinical assistant professor of adolescent and young adult medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and lead author on the study. "Young adults with full-year private insurance coverage certainly had the 'optimal utilization,' with the highest office-based visit and the lowest emergency room visit rates when compared to those with public insurance, those with gaps in coverage or the uninsured."
These findings are from a study of data from the 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, collected in advance of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which allows young adults to stay on family insurance plans until age 26 and makes it easier for them to obtain their own health insurance.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-status-affects-young-adults-health.html
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