Young Uninsured On the Rise:

The Atlanta Business Chronicle has an important article highlighting the growing problem of young people who do not have access to health care.

This is an issue we worked very hard to highlight in 2004 and are continuing to monitor and speak out on.

The article starts by noting that there are a lot more sick and injured young people who are showing up at area hospitals in need of care but they don't have insurance:

More young people without insurance are showing up at Grady Memorial Hospital and other hospitals in Georgia -- a disturbing trend in a state where the problem of the uninsured already costs more than $1.2 billion each year.

One-third of Georgians ages 18-24 are uninsured, and private health insurance coverage has declined 11 percent among this age group in the past five years, according to a new study from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

The article then quotes a professor who theorizes that young people feel like they don't "need" health insurance because they are young and "invincible."

This is a line of argument that we have really tried hard to push back against at Rock the Vote. There is a myth out there that young people are offered health care on the job but they decline it because they want money instead. In fact, that's not true at all. They're not offered health care in the first place, and certainly they are never offered money instead of coverage. That's laughable.

As the article goes on to say:

Tommie McCommon, director of patient access at Grady, says the two most common reasons for 18- to 24-year-olds being uninsured are unemployment and having a job with no benefits. Those who are employed with no benefits often work in fast-food restaurants or other businesses that don't offer them health coverage, she said.

"They work at lower-paying jobs where they're less likely to be offered insurance and to even be eligible," Ketsche said.

"A lot of workplaces require you to be employed for at least three months to become eligible for insurance, and young people might change jobs frequently."

In addition, health policy experts say, the trend of young uninsured can be traced to the problem of many small and midsized businesses ceasing to offer insurance.

"They're just the tip of the iceberg of what we're going to see as this market crumbles," Minyard said.

So the problems run a little deeper and it is not by choice that young people are going without insurance.

Now, what is true is that it is easier for young people to self-insure than many may realize. You can buy a high deductible insurance plan without having an employer provider. It probably won't cover you for routine stuff, but it will probably cover you for the illnesses, bike and car wrecks, etc that we all know are bound to happen sooner or later---the "catasrophic" events that could easily put you (and/or your parents) thousands and thousands of dollars in debt.

In any event, one of Rock the Vote's proposals here is to let young people stay on their family plans for longer. Young adults get kicked off the family health care plan when they turn 19 or graduate from college in most states. Those who are in school part-time, or don't go at all, or take time off, etc, fall into a huge health care gap that they don't climb out of for years, when they finally get a good job with benefits.

As the article reports, that gap is growing bigger every day.