Media Advisory: Health Care for All Coalition Urges General Assembly to Extend Successful Subsidy Program Providing Affordable Health Insurance to Young Adults

For Immediate Release
January 29, 2025

The Maryland Health Care for All Coalition is urging legislators to support legislation to extend a successful program providing subsidies to help young adults obtain affordable health insurance.

The measure, SB 5, will be heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, January 29, 2025; the House version, HB 297, will be heard Thursday, January 30, in the House Health and Government Operations Committee. Two women whose sons benefited from the program will testify at the hearings; to schedule an interview, contact Vincent DeMarco.

This year the Young Adult Health Insurance Subsidy Pilot Program has used premium subsidies to help more than 64,000 young Marylanders enroll in insurance coverage. Thanks to this program, which is administered by the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, many young adults (ages 18 to 37) have been able to access health coverage through Maryland Health Connection for the first time. For other young adults who already had coverage, the program made it easier for them to afford their plans or upgrade to plans with lower deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance. Young adults now make up 36 percent of all private-plan enrollments on the state exchange – an all-time high.

The program is funded through an assessment on insurers in the state. Without action, the program will end next year.

“Maryland should act this year to extend this very successful program, which has helped tens of thousands of young adults get affordable health insurance. The Maryland Health Benefit Exchange has done an amazing job implementing this program and letting young adults know about it,” said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative, which has led advocacy efforts to enact the program. “This program makes health coverage affordable to young adults, who otherwise may struggle to pay for insurance on their own.”

Young adults are the age group least likely to have health coverage, partly because they have the lowest rate of access to employer-based insurance. Yet nearly half of uninsured young adults report problems paying medical bills.