Number of Obamacare Young Adult Enrollees Way Below Target

The Obama administration has just released the enrollment report.

According to WaPo,  24 percent of those purchasing coverage are young adults, the coveted age group between 18 and 34 -- the exact group the White House thinks it really, really needs to enroll to make the health-care law work.

This is below the White House's target. The Obama administration has previously said that if 7 million people enrolled in coverage as expected, 2.7 million of them -- or about 40 percent -- would have to be young adults.

WaPo explains the problem:

[Forty percent is]an important target to hit because more young adults in the exchanges would mean a more healthy population, whose premiums could help subsidize the health care of older and sicker enrollees. 

Some believe that the young are not savvy about the idiotic plan that makes no sense for them to sign-up for. It's just that they are clueless AND slow to act:

Is 24 percent of sign-ups coming in among young adults bad news for the Affordable Care Act? It is, obviously, lower than the targeted 40 percent. At the same time, it's also higher than where Massachusetts's young adult enrollment started back in 2006, when the state expanded coverage. It saw young adult enrollment steadily grow, over the course of open enrollment, to make up a larger chunk of overall sign-ups[...]

Most health policy experts generally expect younger and healthier adults to wait until the end of open enrollment, which runs through March 31, to purchase coverage. Whereas those who are older and sicker would have immediate health-care needs and would jump at the chance to buy coverage, healthier shoppers would likely be more comfortable waiting a few months -- saving some money by not paying premiums -- and purchasing coverage sometime in the late winter or early spring.

"All evidence suggests the pace will increase," says Aaron Smith, executive director of pro-health law group Young Invincibles. "Young people want to explore their options before they make their decisions. "I think the 24 percent number suggests we're on the right track."