The fight over enhanced premium tax credits for the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) marketplace drags on in Congress as crucial deadlines draw near and certain groups stand to be hit the hardest if an agreement to extend the subsidies doesn’t materialize.

Estimates of how many will be impacted by expiring tax credits have ranged from 3 million to more than 4 million enrollees. Based on early projections, this subsection is likely to be younger.

“Young adults would see the greatest increase in uninsurance,” said Matthew Buettgens, senior fellow in the health policy division at the Urban Institute. “These are people who are working and don't have access to stable coverage through an employer.”

The Urban Institute published an analysis last month that found uninsurance rates among adults aged 19 to 34 would rise by 25 percent, the largest increase across different age groups.

Children would stand to be the least affected — a 14 percent increase in uninsurance rates — because of higher income eligibility through programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

While another provision of the ACA allows for young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26, Buettgens notes that if doing so was a viable option for them, they wouldn’t have enrolled in the marketplace in the first place. Those who........

© The Hill