GETTING EDUCATED — It’s graduation season. Not that long ago, for many people finishing high school or college, that meant losing their health insurance. Until the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, young people had no guarantee they could stay on their parents’ health plans once they were no longer students. There was no guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions. No employer mandate, so fewer jobs came with coverage. No set of required benefits, like free contraceptive coverage or preventive care. But to today’s graduates, many of whom will be eligible to vote for president for the first time in November, the passage of Obamacare and the coverage protection they get from it is ancient history. After all, an 18-year-old graduating from high school this spring was four years old in 2010 when the ACA enabled them to stay on their parents’ health plan until age 26. A new college grad was about eight. Changes to the health insurance marketplace that occurred during their Sesame Street years is just not something many young adults think about too much anymore. But President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, focused on boosting Biden’s sagging enthusiasm among young voters , wants to give them a history lesson — and a glimpse of two alternative futures. “The number one thing is that we know that health care is a priority for young voters,” said Eve Levenson, the national youth engagement director for Biden’s re-elect. “And there’s a very clear contrast: Biden has a history of delivering expanded access to affordable health care, and Trump consistently tried to destroy it.” Polls, like the long-running KFF health tracking surveys, now find broad support for the ACA , and more trust in Joe Biden than Donald Trump on health care, including among young voters. Young Democrats were much more positive about the age 26 provision than Republicans — although that doesn’t guarantee it will get them to the polls or get more enthusiastic about Biden. But it’s not all that clear that younger voters fully get the difference between before and after. Indeed, one young woman I recently spoke to had it all backwards. She’s a well-educated 25-year-old professional and she was indignant that she would soon have to drop off her parents’ plan and go on the insurance offered by her employer. “Congress did that,” she said. She thought that Congress had imposed a 26-year-old limit. Before, she thought, she could have stayed on her parents’ plan indefinitely. So in the coming months, Levenson, who is just 24 herself, and the other Biden campaign staff reaching out to young voters online, working with influencers or organizing on campuses, will be trying to explain how young adults benefit from Obamacare. They want them to know that Biden was vice president when it was designed and enacted, and that Biden as president has expanded it — and that if re-elected he will make sure they don’t lose it. They also plan on reminding young voters that access to health care also means improved access to mental health — a big concern for this Covid-stressed generation — as well as reproductive health, including both abortion and contraception. Trump has at times in this campaign said he wants to take another stab at repealing the ACA; later he made vague references to “improving” it without saying what that could entail. Chris Jennings, a longtime Democratic health strategist who worked for both Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and served on Biden’s 2020 transition team, said even if young people don’t think all that much about the ACA right now, that would change fast if Trump tried to axe it. “If the ACA was repealed or seriously threatened to be repealed — as Donald Trump has said he would like to do — I can assure you that all who benefit would become very knowledgeable, engaged, and angry in very short order,” he emailed Nightly. “Americans rarely ascribe credit to specific legislation, but they never fail to blame those who threaten to take away the law’s benefits they cherish.” Levenson noted that not having to worry about health care coverage is itself a benefit for young adults. It’s been a stressful couple of years; peace of mind matters. “Around the ACA anniversary we had trainings across the country and some great national events that highlighted some young voices,” she said. Some of them spoke about “really understanding those stakes, understanding that their coverage, their ability to have that safety net and that peace of mind is because of legislation or action from President Biden and previous Democrats.” So whether young voters remember life before the ACA — or not — the Biden campaign will try to hammer home the value of the health law today, and why it should matter in November. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @JoanneKenen .
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