Avik Roy Explains the Importance of the ACA's Age Bands

Avik Roy, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute, says that the problem with the community rating provision is that age bands can make insurance costly for young patients. He adds that many young consumers remain hesitant about spending $3,000 a year in premiums for health coverage when they rarely see a doctor. Instead, he says, they are opting to take the ACA mandate penalty.

“If you really want to expand coverage, you have to remember that the vast majority of people who are uninsured are young,” says Mr Roy “Expanding the age band — the effect of that would be, I think, to expand coverage because it would make the cost of those plans a lot less expensive for a lot of the people today who are just entering the workforce.”