I never cared much about health insurance growing up. It was always there, but I was never one of those kids who was always breaking something. In the military, it was always there too, but I never cared much about having it. I mean, who wanted to go to those military quack doctors anyway; you go in coughing up blood and they send you out the door with some tylenol. Now, really! Unfortunately, like with all things, you never realize how much you rely on something until you lose it.
Luckily for many young adults, even after high school, their parents can cover them as long as they are attending college. But what about after college? What happens when you get that job that doesn't offer health care because: you don't work enough hours a week, or they just can't afford it (and neither can you!)?
Since I've become one of the 47 million uninsured Americans, I'm missing it dearly. Heck, I'd even go back to those quack doctors! I've been fighting off ear infections for a month now, I'm overdue by 2 months on my second immunization of Gardasil and I haven't been on birth control in ages. Even these small and fairly cheap medical expenses can add up to too much for a young 20-something trying to make it by living off of ramen and free internet.
So what about the young adults who actually NEED their health insurance? My "adopted" brother Beau has only one functioning kidney. He takes 2 evening classes at a local community college so he can stay on his fathers health insurance and get the weekly dialysis and numerous daily meds he needs to stay alive. For a time period he wasn't on his fathers insurance, and a few times he wound up in the emergency room, then intensive care, because he had missed his dialysis. He couldn't afford it.
I wish I could know what's going to happen to Beau next year when he turns 22: the age most insurance companies stop declaring a person a dependent of the parent. How will my brother ever be able to afford his health care on his own? Should he die because he can't? Should anybody?
I say it's high time we took care of all Americans and institute Universal Healthcare coverage.
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