Uninsured "twenty-somethings" are creating a new medical crisis

[SoCalDem]

They are the MOST likely to get an injury from "fun activities", and they are also the most likely to be involved in a pregnancy , or to have small children..They are also the most likely to have a lot of college debt and entry-level jobs with minimal or NO health insurance.. Or if it's offered, they cannot afford it.. They are still in the risk-taking frame of mind, and often don't even think of the need for it until it's too late..

Some states DO offer care for babies and children, but what about their PARENTS?? A Mom who's dragging around because she's sick, will only get worse if she gets no care..Or a Dad who's sick will miss more work in the end if he only gets worse and worse...and then has to go to the ER and use a credit card to pay for an illness that could have been handled on day one...for much less..

People all over the US are spinning the wheel and hoping they will get better on their own, just because they don't have insurance or the money to see a doctor..

The issue isn't even INSURANCE, because just involving "insurance" , adds a middle-man to the issue. We need to start looking at medical care as a RIGHT...and as part of our national INFRASTRUCTURE...just as we do education..

I am NOT saying that doctors need to be paid LESS..In fact I think they should be paid MORE, and probably could be paid more by cutting out the sharks who guard the "middle" now..

Insurance helps some people, BUT for people who are not poor enough for medicaid, BUT have no "extra" money for another insurance premium, insurance is not going to fix the problem,..

This is one case where citizenship would be really worth documenting. A medical system that works for ALL citizens would have to be somewhat exclusive, or the whole thing would break down (Canada does not allow Americans to cross the bridge and get free medical care)..No doubt there would be a level of some care available for people who could not prove their citizenship, and there would still be "Ultra chi-chi" care for the gloriously wealthy among us...BUT the majority of the "middles" need a system that looks out for their health..and they need it YESTERDAY..


Will it cost money?? SURE!.. Are we worth it?? Hell YES!.. Like the "man" always says.. "IT'S OUR MONEY"!!!

If we do nothing, it will only get worse.. What's happening is that the "recently launched" young people are showing up at Mom & Dad's house, sick, with no way to get care and Mom & Dad are paying for their care...because they love their kids, and this is just another reckless way for the government to "hide" the facts..

What would YOU do, if your 24 yr old showed up with a fever and a cough that he/she had had for a week or two?? You would give them money or your credit card so they could go to a doctor.. THEY can't afford a couple of hundred dollars for tests and medicines..

It's faith-based medicine with a twist.. The government knows that most 50-60 somethings will continue to pay bills for their grown-up children....just as sure as they are about churches & charities picking up the slack in disasters...


Some interesting articles that touch on this problem

A changing nation
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060305/OPINION/60304003/1030/OPINION

Small businesses bearing brunt of health cost surge
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11693886/

Uncertainty and Its Exigencies: The Critical Role of Insurance in ...
http://www.mises.org/story/2021

Looking Beyond Our Health Care Myth
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2006/03/nursing_oped.html

[aquart]

1. You pay five times as much without insurance.

Going to the hospital means being ruined forever.

[SoCalDem]

2. and since young people wait longer to GO, it often ends up taking

longer to feel better...and perhaps a lost job in the process... It can start a young person on the road to ruin..

[rucky]

17. And we could collectively pay less ...

if there were no need for insurance and have everybody get public medical care. why should such a burden be place on one sick person?

healthcare is a basic right.

[SoCalDem]

18. That's exactly HOW group insurance "should" work

but lax regulations have allowed the insurers to eliminate more and more people and as the groups get smaller, the costs per person HAVE to go up..


My family is a prime example.. Years ago, we hardly EVER went to the doctor, so "our" moeny went to pay for people who DID need to go, and as we ages and need to go more often, it;s only fair that we should be able to, since OUR money was spent on t=others, when THEY needed it..


That's what this "problem" is, at its heart,,

One genration, one group...helping others NOW..and expecting the next crew to do the same for US.. It;s all a promise, from one citizen to another...because we care about each other's health.. That's all it is... human kindness and decency..

[LiberalEsto]

3. I had to make my daughter accept a policy

She's 22 and told me none of her friends had health insurance, so why should she?

I told her that even if she didn't care about herself, she should accpt this bare-minimum policy so she doesn't bankrupt us if she gets sick. The policy costs about $55 a month. It doesn't cover pregnancy-related issues, but I couldn't afford anything with better coverage.

[SoCalDem]

4. We are scared to death for our son.. His COBRA runs out in 3

months, and since he had back surgery last year, a private policy will be too expensive for him.. We might end up having to subsidize him, since I will never allow him to be under insured, or he could end up crippled for life if a bad doctor ends up treating him.. :scared:

He is finally able to work, but is working with a friend who pays him extremely well and understands his limitations.. Our son is kind of afraid to get a "mainstream" job because of his limitations.. He;s afraid to say he can do something, and then find out he can't..


he and his finacee put their wedding on hold because he was hurt, and I knwo they are eager to start their lives together, but he refuses to budge on that until he's "able to support them"..

[LiberalEsto]

10. Can his friend get a group policy?

Also, do some on-line research. Bankrate has some good articles on health coverage. I got my daughter's policy with Golden Rule as the result of online research.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. My son cut off a finger and a half when he was 21

and had no insurance. $25,000 in medical bills. The hospital told my husband and I NOT to pay a dime toward the bill because then the bill collectors would come after us. They hooked our son up with a couple charitable organizations that paid most of the bill for him and the hospital also helped him find a plastic surgeon who donated his care.

It was a mess though. Our son was just starting adulthood facing the loss of a good portion of his hand and piles of medical bills he could not pay.

[SoCalDem]

6. How awful for him..

:cry:

It must have hurt you guys to not be able to help him, without risking your own futures... That's what really sucks. Had you lived in Europe or Canada, you could have just worried about him and not how he would pay for it or if he would get substandard care..

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Yes it was horrrific enough

without dealing with the financial aspects of it.

[Withywindle]

7. I went without for most of my 20s...

...when I graduated during the first Bush recession (Bush 41, that is) even though I had a college degree there wasn't much above minimum wage that I could find. Most of my friends were in the same boat.

It's awful. I can't tell you how many people I know who were involved in minor accidents (cars, bikes, falls, etc.) who BEGGED Samaritans not to call an ambulance because they couldn't afford it.

[LiberalEsto]

9. I didn't have coverage until I was 25

but that was 1977. Back in those days people could afford to go to a doctor or dentist, and pay for a prescription.

[area51]

11. "Are we worth it?? Hell YES!"

So true!

I know nazis get a woody everytime someone dies w/o medical care, but it's affecting America's bottom line. One of the countries we're losing jobs to is Canada, b/c with their universal healthcare, it's cheaper to do business there.

[lovuian]

12. No person should go bankrupt because they are sick

its a right...

[SoCalDem]

16. With the new law changes, it will be hard to even GO bankrupt

and if you cannot discharge hospital bills, they will hound you beyond the grave.

[Rainscents]

13. They are also the one who drive without car insurance too!

I was rear-ended real bad the other day and he didn't have no car insurance and was driving someone else's car. I was told today, my car will be totaled. He hit me at 45mph impact.

[pitohui]

14. i had no medical insurance in my 20s or most of my 30s

showing up to get the parents to pay the bill was not an option

i just skipped care and did not inform them when i was seriously ill, asking them to pay and maybe put their home at risk was just not on


certainly i wouldn't bother them in this situation -- What would YOU do, if your 24 yr old showed up with a fever and a cough that he/she had had for a week or two?? You would give them money or your credit card so they could go to a doctor -- hell i had pneumonia and i never brought it up, they had money struggles too, i would have had to have terminal cancer or something and even then i doubt i would have said anything, what good would be done by breaking them financially too?

i don't think the issue is that twentysomethings are bums hitting up their parents but rather that all jobs, even low-paying jobs, should be required to provide decent health insurance

universal health care would be even better, because sometimes folks are self-employed or unemployed, and health insurance premiums are simply out of reach in those cases

on edit -- what proud2Blib describes is the situation as i understood it, parents can't chip in for adult children's bills or they are assuming the debt and then they might be liable for the entire amount

[SoCalDem]

15. That's very true.. You dare not pay a hospital bill, but we have

"loaned" him money to live on while he was recuperating from surgery.. It took 6 months to diagnose him, and when he finally got the approval for the back surgery, he only had 2 months left on disability, so there he was.. not barely ready to work, and totally cut off from income, so we paid his rent and paid him for some small handyman jobs we needed..and we bought him a truck that was more comfy than his vw bug.. he could not drive using a stick shift..

He's finally getting back on his feet , but it's been a year..and it;s driving him crazy

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Single Payer Health Care.

I really would like our party to find the gumption to get behind that idea.