The "Young Invincibles" Myth Refuses to Die

For many years before and after the Affordable Care Act went into effect, many policy-types argued that its success or failure would depend on whether the "young invincibles" would sign up for health care insurance. The argument was that the system needed premiums from young people with few medical expenses in order to balance out the cost of providing care to less healthy people.

The problem with this story is that it is not just young people who have low medical expenses: most older people...