Young and Invincible?

(CBS)  Almost two-thirds of America's young people voted for Barack Obama.

Now, he's trying to tap into that support to help pass health reform, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier. He's telling the under-30 generation they may not know it, but health insurance is something they need.

"I know this isn't always an issue that you have at the top of your mind," Mr. Obama said at the University of Maryland. "You think you're invulnerable."

But they are vulnerable. One in six young adults - those from age 19 to 29 - have chronic conditions such as asthma or cancer. One quarter are obese, and one in six end up in the emergency room from injury - the highest rate among any age group in the country.

Despite that, nearly a third of young Americans, around 10 million people, don't have coverage. And 28 percent of young adults who have jobs are uninsured. That makes them the most uninsured age group in the country.

"They are twice as likely to be unemployed, they are much more likely to be under the poverty line and they are struggling under debt," said Heather Smith, with Rock the Vote.

Yet everyone would be required to have coverage or pay a penalty. Those who make less than $14,000 a year would be exempt, but if you make more than that, the cheapest plan would cost $1,200 a year.

"For young healthier adults with higher income, they are going to be forced to pay more than they are currently paying," said Genevieve Kenney, a senior fellow and health economist with the Urban Institute.

To ease the transition, President Obama says under his plan, young people could say on their parents' insurance until age 26.

Krisja Hendricks, 28, could have used that when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in college. At the time, she was covered under her father's plan.

"Once I graduated I was kicked off and wasn't offered anything else," Hendricks said. "About eight months later I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and I tried to apply for a lot of different insurance and no one would even accept me."

The insurance she was eventually able to get five years later still doesn't cover tests she needs.

"I thought this can't be happening to me I'm so young," Hendricks said. "But it can obviously."

That's the message from Rock the Vote, which mobilized so many young Americans during the campaign.

It's hard to tell whether the "young invincibles," as these young people are called, will believe.

[whatisgoingonandwhy]

This IS an issue we think of as young adults. How is it that Americans, specifically young adults, are some of the most unhealthy in the world? Could it be...lifestyle, culture, FOOD, pharmaceuticals? Chronic conditions are sure to be out there, but when obesity is quoted right after that....come on, people have been yelling about not wanting to pay for someone's abortion, but I don't want to pay for someone else McDonald's (which is a whole other issue, but they are subsidized enough). I also live in America and thought that freedom was part of the deal. Your going to tell me I have to sign up for health insurance or else? Sounds like auto insurance and for anyone that has been in an auto accident, sounds like a whole lot of fun going down this road. For those of us who care for ourselves meticulously daily and go for routine check ups understanding that the out of pocket expense is far less than the annual sum of insurance say, don't tell me what to do.

As for Krisja Hendricks, what a terrible story, truly a sad one. Not to discredit what she has gone through or the help she desperately needs, but what are we going to do when this happens to a 25 year old 1 month before her 26th birthday? Granted, if pre-existing conditions were not an issue, then perhaps her road would have been better traveled. For those who want health care, perhaps this is the issue to look at. But for those of us that don't want it, leave us be.

There are many of us who do not make less than $14,000 a year but still can't afford $1200 a year. What then?

Corporations can't be trusted to put their customers interest first because they are set up to satisfy their shareholders and the government can't do it because, well looks like they are going to bankrupt us anyhow. Capitalism at its best!

[Adamgv9701]

Obama's plan is awful for young professionals without insurance. It screws those that make too much money to qualify for subsidies but too little to afford the monthly health insurance premiums. In addition, this plan will force the young and healthy to pay a wildly disproportionate share of the costs and subsidize the unhealthy. There won't even be an option for choosing only to carry catastrophic coverage and then pay out of pocket for routine care. I know that if I am forced to purchase all this excess health coverage I don't need, I will make it my goal to use as much as I possibly can even if it's probably not completely necessary. What a joke of a proposal.

[babooph]

They do not need to be ripped off by the crooked ins. industry,they need access to healthcare.

[ffoulkes-2009]

You are absolutely right...why be ripped off by a crooked private industry when your government is here and willing to rip you off instead.

[sdemaggie]

I'm really beginning to question the rhetoric. Couldn't we save a bunch of money by consolidating emergency rooms, MRI scanners, hospitals, urgent care centers, etc. The business of health care must be extremely profitable given the number of private medical facilitates that have sprung up. What are the net and gross margins in the business of death?

Let's face it, the vast majority of us will not use the insurance. I've been paying for health insurance for over 20 years. I've never used it with the exception of the birth of my kids. I wonder if it would be more cost affective for me to pay as I go. After all, I've wasted well ove $90k on health insurance premiums over the years. Hum, something to think about...

[govmess]

Dear sdemaggie...you haven't wasted a cent...what you need to realize is paying your health insurance all those years that you are healthy and don't need it is exactly what will pay for your elderly years of care...it is just that, insurance for a time you will need it.

[justsane-2009]

NEVER used it? let's see...the birth of each of my kids cost about $11K, not including prenatal care (you did have prenatal, right?). and then there were the well-baby check-ups, vaccinations, check-ups, visits for ear infections, back-to-school physicals, sprains, breaks, colds, and who can remember what else. are you trying to tell us that you had children but your kids never went to see the doctor?

then there's always the unexpected accident. my oldest fell and broke her arm on the playground when she was 7. she required surgery to repair the break, and i have no idea what the bill for that was. a year later, she suffered a severe brain injury. the five-day intensive care bill was over $75K. after that, she spent almost three weeks at children's hospital, followed by years of physical, psychological, and learning therapies.

we pay for insurance because we don't know what the future will hold. your "wasted" $90K wouldn't have made a dent in the costs that my family incurred over the same 20 year period. you know what they say: "there but for the grace of god, go i." had you been in my shoes, you wouldn't have thought it a waste at all.

[govmess]

This is down right stupid reporting and represents the mentally of the I want it all Americans...."Krisja Hendricks ...was covered under her father's plan. "Once I graduated I was kicked off and wasn't offered anything else," Hendricks said."

Balony!! She had an option and it is called COBRA. When our kids graduated and lost coverage under my plan, we stopped our cable tv subscription, I got a second job and we ate more pasta so we could cover them with COBRA until they were employed and were covered by their employers insurance. We felt responsible and we sacrified. We didn't sit back on our a** and expect handouts from other people.

[stablew]

govmess,

COBRA is a federal insurance plan. Look at answer#22 in the link provided.

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html

[ffoulkes-2009]

The Point is that there already is an 'option' available without FORCING everybody onboard.

[justsane-2009]

Ok, this is for all of you who think that young people don't need to be insured. My son-in-law was diagnosed in July with AML (acute mylogeous leukemia). He has spent weeks in the hospital, undergone three rounds of chemotherapy (so far), returns to the cancer clinic three times a week when he is not receiving chemo, for blood tests, transfusions, etc. He will need to have a bone marrow transplant in a city that is 1500 miles away. He is 23 years old, and except for this silly little cancer, in excellent health.

Fortunately, he had insurance at the time of his diagnosis. He had that coverage because he and my daughter have a one-year-old daughter, and he knows the importance of being responsible for their sakes. Now of course, he can't work; in fact it could be up to two years before he will be able to hold down a job. His employer has dropped him from their coverage, which is perfectly reasonable. They are a small company, and this is an expense that they can't continue to cover. However, what that means is that he has to go on what is the current "public option", medicaid. We all know who pays for that.

We need significant health care reform, we need a public option, we need for every man, woman, and child in this country to have insurance, and we need it now.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Ok...so 10,000 healthy young people MUST pay for insurance they will NEVER use to cover ONE unlucky soul who has a major health deficiency...

[erasmus111]

by nojoy01 September 20, 2009 7:46 AM EDT

"Now all the republicans have to pay for the bill which totals over $8,000."

How in the world do you feel that the republicans (or the democrats, for that matter) are responsible for YOUR debts?



Oh come on now. Maybe they shouldn't be "responsible" for a person's debt, but they are. The POINT is that if someone doesn't have insurance, then EVERYBODY is paying BIG BUCKS for it. Now with the new plan where everyone pays for health care, that will drop the cost and even though you will still have to pay for those who can't afford it, it will be way less. Because it will be more affordable, more people will have health care making it a lot less people without. Meaning less people to pay for.

[erasmus111]

"...making it a lot less people without."

What I meant was that it would be less people PAYING, not less people without care.

[erasmus111]

by erasmus111 September 20, 2009 1:08 PM EDT
"...making it a lot less people without."

What I meant was that it would be less people PAYING, not less people without care.


Geez, I can see I still screwed that up. I meant was there would be less people NOT paying.

[shurch4truth]

...most of the hate against Mr. Obama comes out of the south and mid-west...the irony is although these groups are mostly supporters of the far right they remained at levels of wealth and education below the rest of the county after how many years of republican rule?

The republican method is to jazz these people up by unfounded slogans.

[govmess]

Sorry dude, I'm from NYC and have an income that would not be considered to be below the rest of country and I have an MBA...so don't make such dogmatic statements. It is not "hate" that drives us, it is lack of responsibility and unwillingness to sacrifice by people like you who want to have everything handed to them at the expense of everyone else. He is driving this country into a huge sink hole and people like you are blindly following him.

[shurch4truth]

Bill O'Reily use to be high on his soap box about the hate campaigns against Mr. Bush........if he was doing this for the right reason then where is he now?

[shurch4truth]

the far right conservatives are trying to make people believe that all minorities are on welfare.

... most people know is not true but these wacko conservatives think otherwise and that's part of the reason for their hate campaign