A recent study by FamiliesUSA found that 466,000 people in Colorado will qualify for federal subsidies relating to Obamacare next year. Of that population, 36% nationally are young adults aged 18-34 years old, which is virtually identical to the number of young adults who qualify in Colorado – 36.3%.
This all may sound well and good, but that 36% of young adults nationally and locally qualify for federal health care subsidies simply serves to mask a larger issue – the persistent unemployment in this age group. A recent study by Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research found that unemployment among this age group increased 55% from 2006 through 2011.
At a time when entitlement spending (see Social Security and Medicare) has ballooned out of control, the federal government is proposing to bring a whole new generation of Americans under its generous wing. The more troubling aspect to this march towards Obamacare is that the program inserts additional barriers between the consumer of the care and the person who pays for the care. It’s this dichotomy that sends health care costs spiraling out of control. From the FamiliesUSA study’s explanation of how this benefit works:
“When a person or family qualifies for a tax credit, the dollars from the credit will flow directly to the health plan in which the individual or family enrolls, offsetting the total cost of the family’s health insurance premiums for that plan.”
That families are struggling is not breaking news, but instead of adding government band-aids to each problem that arises, let’s start taking a look at the underlying causes of this struggle.