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In 2010, the Access to Care Act (ACA) allowed young adults aged 19 to 25 to retain health insurance coverage under their parents' policies. To gage the economic effect of this law on individuals and the emergency department (ED), researchers analyzed national claims data for ED visits by young adults at 392 general hospitals from 2009 through 2011. They compared insurance coverage rates for nondiscretionary visits (serious conditions such as long-bone fracture or head injury) between patients aged 19 to 25 and those aged 26 to 31 (controls) under the assumption that such visits occur irrespective of insurance status.
Subsequent to ACA implementation, 3% more nondiscretionary ED visits were covered by private insurance in the younger group th…