Jun. 11--A provision being considered as part of sweeping federal health care reform targets a portion of the population one expert said Wednesday is sorely in need of insurance -- young adults.
Marc Nuwer, a neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center, said young adults tend to avoid getting health insurance because they believe they are "immortal and invulnerable," a trend he said makes everyone else pay for the group's mistakes.
Lawmakers are debating ways to provide coverage for the vast numbers of uninsured nationwide as part of a health care overhaul. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is sponsoring the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's health care plan, one of several proposals lawmakers will begin considering next week.
Nuwer supports a provision in Kennedy's bill that would let children remain on their parents' insurance until age 26.
An expert in health care economics, he noted that when the uninsured enter hospitals with catastrophic illnesses, their care must be covered by the rest of the system's contributors.
"If they (the young) were receiving health care through more of a mandated or easier way of coverage, this would help to cover those people who go skiing, break their leg and need hospitalization and can't pay for it," he said. "In a sense, all taxpayers are having to subsidize the immortal and invulnerable young."
Currently, young adult coverage is left for states to determine. Some mandate extended coverage for the young, in most cases unmarried. New Jersey covers them to age 30, and New York and Pennsylvania are considering bills to allow insuring those up to age 29 on a parent's policy.
A Kaiser Family Foundation study found the young adult portion of the tens of millions of uninsured is the fastest-growing. Nuwer said this segment is contributing to a larger percentage of bankruptcies.
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