930,000 people or 15% of Tennesseans were uninsured in 2012. President Obama aimed to insure these individuals through the Affordable Care Act.

 

59,705 Tennesseans selected a marketplace plan in February. 70 percent of this number chose a silver plan, and 78 percent needed financial assistance in order to receive health care. This marks a threefold increase in November.

 

Affordable Healthcare Act fails to draw young people into the plan.  The national average for coverage of the young adult age group (18-34) is 24 percent. This is low compared with the White House’s targeted 40 percent.

 

Tennessee met the national average for the young adult age group.

 

Females in Tennessee also held close to the national gender majority who signed up for insurance for both state and federally run insurance plans.

 

No individuals 65 and older chose plans in Tennessee. However, individuals in the 55-64 year olds were the largest percentage of individuals who chose enrollment with 33 percent.

 

In the age group categorizations, there was little differentiation of percentages in healthcare selection in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia.

 

The Obama administration estimated that 2.7 million of 7 million individuals enrolling in coverage would be young adults. Covering this age category would promote a healthier population, whose premiums could subsidize the health care of older and less healthy individuals.

 

American young adults hesitate to sign up for healthcare shown by the low national average. Under penalty of higher taxes, Americans are mandated by law to have a plan.

 

Resistance occurs says Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, because a “one-size-fits-all plans that come with high costs for limited access to your doctor” is the only plan available after the law that cancelled the plan many Americans had, liked, and could afford.