Young People Silent on Health Care Reform

A commentary on CNN today discusses the silence of Americans aged 18-34 on the subject of health care reform.

Young adults represent nearly a third of the uninsured. I am not among that population at the moment, as M and I both have employer sponsored plans. During our young adult time, we've had a combination of really bad employer sponsored plans, pretty decent ones, a high-deductible HMO we purchased privately, and have gone without insurance. We have no serious medical problems and no pre-existing conditions.

People who oppose reforms show a real lack of understanding about how much it actually costs to purchase insurance on your own, how pointless it seems to even buy that coverage when those companies have the right to drop you as soon as you actually need the coverage and what the job market is like for young people.

At one point, I looked into Pennsylvania's sponsored plan for low-income adults. You still had to pay a premium, but it was within my reach, unlike the plans available on the open market.

I gave up on that one when I found out there were 56,000 eligible people on the waiting list.

I called around some local OB/GYN practices to find out what it would cost for an annual exam and lab work. It was $500 if nothing was wrong. Knowing that if something really was wrong and I required a procedure, I would really be screwed, first because I didn't have thousands of dollars, and second because I would then have a pre-existing condition that if I ever did get on an insurance plan, would likely not be covered for some period of time.

Instead, I crossed my fingers and went a few years in between Pap smears. I now work at a job where I make virtually no money, but do have health insurance...a deal I'm glad I stumbled into before I found out I was pregnant, because, you guessed it, that would have been a pre-existing condition, and therefore Not Covered. And you don't even want to know what it costs to have an uncomplicated, vaginal birth...nevermind the potential for true financial disaster if you need a C-section or the baby has problems.

Many entry level jobs these days, including jobs M and I have held (and we are college-educated) are "temp" jobs. Temping does not mean temporary. You may work in one of these jobs for months or even years, hoping to get a chance at a permanent job within the company. Temping generally just means that you don't get benefits, which saves the company crap tons of money.

I know people who are very qualified to work in other fields but choose employment at Starbucks or Trader Joe's, companies that have more progressive health insurance programs and cover their part-time workers.

When we purchased HMO coverage with Blue Cross and Blue Shield, we had a rather reasonable rate of around $300 premium per month with a $2,500 deductible. This plan did not cover routine care of any kind, until you surpassed the deductible. We paid on the plan for about six months, and then were informed that our rates were increasing. By $150 per month. Personally, I felt that we had just flushed several thousand dollars down the toilet and became very disillusioned with the open market. At least as it applies to maintaining my health.

I don't object to paying for health care.

I don't want a handout.

I just want to know that I can afford routine care, and if I get sick, I won't have to worry about losing my coverage.

The rhetoric over the fear of government "rationed care" is ridiculous. We already have rationed care. It's rationed by health insurance companies. I'm not going to go as far as to call them heartless bastards, but seriously, how else are they supposed to act when there is a profit motive?

My impassioned plea to the opponents of reform and those on the edge is to look past the distracting death panel rhetoric. Rethink the naive notion that your current insurer is going to be there for you when you need it. Imagine a more productive country where people are not mired in medical debt or live in fear of getting routine care because they don't want to be labeled with a "pre-existing condition" when they are in their twenties.