From the Philadelphia Daily News

Young, and feeling that health-care anxiety
By BEN WAXMAN

A FEW DAYS ago, I got the ID card for my new health-insurance plan in the mail.

I breathed a sigh of relief. For a brief period, I'd been walking around uninsured. Being without health insurance has become a troubling rite of passage for young adults and is quickly approaching a crisis point.

To be honest, I'm fairly lucky when it comes to health care. My mother has a great policy at work that covered me during college. I started my first job about six months ago, and my employer provides insurance. There are plenty of young people who aren't as lucky.

According to a study from the Institute of Medicine, 33 percent of people aged 19-29 don't have health insurance. Young adults are twice as likely to be uninsured than the rest of the population. Many lose their coverage when they turn 19 or graduate from college. All in all, that's nearly 7.8 million young people without health insurance.

Insurance companies argue that the young are healthy, and many decide not to purchase policies. This is absolute garbage. A study by the Commonwealth Fund found that only 3 percent of young workers decline coverage by choice. A large majority would buy policies costing $100 a month - if any existed.

A full-time job used to almost guarantee some kind of health coverage. Young workers are finding that's no longer true. The same study from the Commonwealth Fund found that only 42 percent of those 19-29 who work full-time had employer-based health coverage. In comparison, 62 percent of older full-time workers have health benefits.

The large number of young people who are uninsured creates a burden on society. Uninsured individuals are less likely to seek preventive care and then suffer from conditions that require expensive treatment. People without health insurance typically only pay 35 percent of the costs of their care. The rest is borne by taxpayers.

The health-care crisis has hit young people very hard. However, this is a national problem and no segment of the population is immune. National political leaders need to step up the plate and figure out a way to make health care affordable for all Americans.

Some local elected officials are already taking action. Gov. Rendell has proposed a sweeping plan that would make health care dramatically more affordable in Pennsylvania.

SOME OF IT has already passed, but the major portions are stalled in the Senate. Unless something happens to break the partisan gridlock in Harrisburg, nothing dramatic is going to happen at the state level.

However, lawmakers should show their commitment to health-care reform by doing something about the crisis facing young adults.

First, insurers should be forbidden from denying coverage to children based on their educational status (not being in college). Second, the companies should be required to provide an affordable policy for new members of the workforce. These would be two important steps toward stabilizing health coverage for young people.

Providing affordable health insurance is not just good public policy, it's the morally right thing to do. Thousands of young people are one major medical bill away from bankruptcy. It's unfair to expect those just starting their life to deal with that kind of burden. *

Ben Waxman, a recent graduate of Juniata College, is a regular contributor. His e-mail is benwaxman@gmail.com.