Reports Examine Rates of Uninsured Young Adults, Projections in Federal Medicare, Medicaid Spending

• "Rite of Passage? Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help," Commonwealth Fund: According to the updated report, the number of uninsured adults ages 19 to 29 in the U.S. increased to 13.7 million in 2006 from 13.3 million in 2005. The authors write that this age group typically loses coverage after age 19 as a result of being dropped from parents' policies or from public programs and that states could increase coverage rates by expanding Medicaid and SCHIP eligibility and ensuring that colleges and universities require health insurance and offer it to their full-time and part-time students (Commonwealth Fund release, 5/30).
  
  
• "Accounting for Sources of Projected Growth in Federal Spending on Medicare and Medicaid," Congressional Budget Office: The issue brief states that the main cause of future Medicare and Medicaid spending will be rising per-beneficiary costs, rather than rising numbers of beneficiaries. According to CBO projections, federal spending on the two public programs will grow from 4% of gross domestic product in 2007 to 9% in 2032 and 19% in 2082. During the next 25 years, in which the baby boom generation will age and increase the number of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, CBO estimates that more than half of growth in spending will result from cost growth (CBO, 5/28).