Pelosi Touts Legislation To Insure Young Americans

By Julianne LaJeunesse- University of New Mexico

During a press conference Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) touted U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper’s (D-PA) Young Adult Health Care Coverage Act as one way to insure young Americans.

Dahlkemper’s health care reform provision extends young adult’s access to their parent’s health insurance until age 26. The House provision passed the Senate HELP committee, and if it passes as part of the larger Senate health care reform, it could present yet another way to insure “Young Invincibles,” or that section of 18 to 34-year-old Americans who are uninsured whether by choice, hence their invincibility, or by financial situation.

Dahlkemper’s proposal would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Public Health Service Act, allowing a dependent child access to their parent’s insurance if they are unmarried, without dependents and a citizen or national of the United States.

Pelosi was joined by members of the collaborative groups Young Invincibles and Campus Progress.