Leaving the Nest Uninsured
My family and I have been very fortunate when it comes to health insurance. A job with a labor union provided a “Cadillac plan” with family coverage and no payroll deduction for premiums. Now, my pension plan provides family coverage at a reasonable monthly cost.
However, for my eldest, the gig is up come May, when he graduates from college and will no longer be eligible under my plan. Since he will be self-employed (he is a musician), he can’t count on benefits through an employer. That fact is among his chief concerns.
If there is any comfort, he is not alone. According to a June 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation Report: “Young adults have the highest uninsured rate of any age group in the country. Almost one-third (31%) of young adults are uninsured, compared to 18% of the entire nonelderly population. The uninsured rate for young adults is almost twice as high as the uninsured rate for adults age 30-64.”
Some states have laws that would extend the age where coverage for dependents would be allowed. However, an article in the New York Times says their impact has been limited. Referring to a proposal by New York Gov. David Paterson, the paper wrote: The plan was praised by some health care experts as a major step forward, but early evidence from the roughly two dozen other states that have adopted similar programs suggests that their effectiveness in shrinking the ranks of the uninsured has been modest at best. “We’ve reviewed the laws and regulations from all 25 states,” said Joel C. Cantor, the director of the Center for State Healthy Policy at Rutgers University, who is studying the national impact of the state laws on insuring young adults. “This is about as incremental as incremental gets.”
First Globals without employer-based insurance can go on the open market for a private policy, but the cost for some may be prohibitive. What is the solution? Should any health care reform include low-cost coverage for this group? Most important, will it come quickly enough to help my son? – Paul Lomeo
Loading ...
Here’s the bottom line: There are career paths that include health insurance and career paths that don’t. If you’re on your own then fine, you choose a path that doesn’t and that’s your call. If you have a family, or intend to, and choose such a path, you’d better have the wherewithall to privately fund your health insurance. Why should I, and others, be expected, through taxes, to pay to maintain YOUR health, especially if you engage in high-risk or foolish behaviors likely to cause significant healtcare burdens in the future?
Many people would like to be artists, writers or musicians, but they choose not to, because of the costs that entails, such as a lack of health insurance. Instead, they go to work every day, 9-5 – a work which they might not like but which pays the bills more reliably. Now, why do you think those people should bear the costs of your son’s decision?
I am not inferring that anybody’s taxes should pay for my son’s health insurance. The state laws referenced would allow my dependent to remain under my policy, which I would continue to pay for. The larger point is that anyone who is self-employed should have the same health insurance options as those who are part of an employer-based group plan. This applies to anyone starting a business or trade. Creating such groups that lower costs and encourage the uninsured to have insurance seems to me a very sensible approach, and one most people support.
Both of my children had a period of being uninsured between graduation from college and finding post-college employment. For my son that period was only about 7 months after getting his M.S. For my daughter, however, she worked in a job w/o insurance for 2 years after getting her Associate’s until she found a job with insurance. Are those “gaps” what we are talking about here?
Your son is no longer a child and now that he’s out of college he should take care of his health own coverage. We tax payers should not pay for it. He can get an individual health policy with a high deductible for a very reasonable premium. He’s young and healthy, premiums should be low. If he has absolutely no money, maybe you could help him out for a while since you don’t pay anything for your coverage and have not had to pay premiums for your entire life. Or maybe you could help him by setting up a Health Savings account (HSA)
I think this discussion betrays the underlying problem. This person is concerned that his child will be uninsured due to his choices. It appears that he is willing to subsidize that for a while but then wants the government to subsidize it further. I see that he says that he doesn’t necessarily want taxes to go for his son’s insurance, but still asks, ‘Should any health care reform include low-cost coverage for this group?’
If such a provision were in place, then either taxes would have to be used to subsidize the provider plans OR the government would have to insist that the providers operate these policies below the market value.
I still think that people don’t understand the word freedom. Freedom is about the ability to make choices and to have opportunity unencumbered by government meddling but it also puts the responsibility for an individuals welfare on the individual, as it should be.
I am not against safety nets, but I am against expecting those nets to be hammocks. If a man decides that he wants to be a musician then he must be allowed to make that decision but he must also accept the consequences of that risky path. I understand wanting my child to succeed but I do not understand wanting my child to be dependent on me or the government. Adults must succeed or fail on their own or they are not adults. Success is meaningless unless the risk of failure is real.
Paternalism is not the role of government.
My son and daughter-in-law are both professional musicians. He finished a doctorate in music and teaches at a prestigious liberal arts college which has excellent health insurance. She teaches private horn lessons at a university but is on my son’s health insurance.
My older son on the other hand got a degree in political science and moved to Japan where he has lived and taught English for 18 years. He would love to come home to live but worries about getting health insurance here since he has asthma. Our insurance man says they have an affordable policy that he could get for one year until he gets a job with health insurance.
I also want to comment on Gregor’s comment: <<<>>>>
Sadly, those of us with insurance are very much subsidizing those who have no insurance. The hospitals must share the costs for those who don’t pay with those of us who do pay. I lived in a small town in New Mexico where there was gross poverty and unemployment. Every medical bill we had was considered to be way above the “expected” cost because we had to subsidize those who couldn’t get health insurance. The problem is not those that “Won’t get insurance” the problem is those who “CAN’T” get insurance. Not everybody has the means to pay for insurance and it is not always the fault of the person.
When I was young and feckless, in the 60s and 70s, US communities had free clinics, sliding-scale clinics, and hospitals that received money from first the government and later from other hospitals to care for the indigent. Most of this seems to have been dismantled or degraded through the political activities of some of the more narrowly selfish folks like some of those who commented on this list. You guys are nuts. Recently, I moved to Canada – in my province, we pay a healthcare premium on a sliding scale, but the maximum is only about 1/6 of what I had to pay for private individual healthcare in the US. I like having my taxes go to support healthcare for all. When I walked into a hospital and they did’t ask you “how do you plan to pay for this,” my stress level went way down and I knew I would get well MUCH faster.
I have been purchasing Blue Cross/Blue Shield for my youngest son since he graduated from college. The cost is very reasonable. At the beginning it was about $600 per year. This year it has gone up to $980 per year. It has a large deductable, but if he had any kind of serious issue it would be a big help. Fortunately he is very healthy and hasn’t needed it at all.
Paul, your son should be eligible for 18 months of continuation health coverage under COBRA. He would be responsible for paying 100% of the premiums, but those should be less than premiums under an individual policy. Check with your benefits department.
The original premise for Kaiser Permanente was tapping a pool of healthy, employed (can pay premiums) individuals. I suspect that your son would do well checking them out.
Your son is now an adult. Let him grow.
As I recall, when I was a younger man I didn’t have health insurance and it really didn’t matter. Even if I had the money I wouldn’t go to the doctor unless my appendix was ruptured (true story). I paid that off $60/month for what seemed like the rest of my life. Somehow, I managed to do it and still party on the weekends. The things that drive up cost of health care and contributes lack of appointments is the people who run to the doctor everytime they get the sniffles or a tummy ache BECAUSE they have insurance.
Why do people today feel like they have to pay everything for their adult kids? Why not let this kid find his own way in life? I did. Let your son figure it out for himself. Let him grow up. My parents did. Let your son be a musician, but have another job in order to pay his own way. It is very kind of you to want to do this. As far as universal healthcare in the new Obama USA, I foresee a future where we will be taxed out the wazoo, but still have need private policies because the insurance want be worth squat. Don’t count on the government and your son shouldn’t either.