Got a plan for your health insurance?
The cost of health insurance is increasing at a faster rate than the rest of the economy. For young adults this makes buying individual health insurance plans especially unattractive. What you should know:
- Young adults, ages 19 to 34, are the largest and fastest-growing group of uninsured
- There were nearly 14 million uninsured young adults in 2006, up 2.5 million since 2000.
- One in five 19- to 29-year-olds don't have health insurance.
As of March 2008, 17 states had passed laws extending coverage for young adults. Today Iowa took steps to become the eighteenth, passing a Senate bill that will enable young adults to stay on parents' insurance policies longer. (Shenandoah's Valley News Today, April 11, 2008)
Surely there's state funding available?
If you're a part-time student, or, even if you work part-time, you are most likely not covered and not eligible for health insurance. You probably can't afford individual health insurance, like the 25-year-old woman from Nebraska who found herself liable for thousands of dollars in hospital bills following a car accident. (North Platte Telegraph, March 29, 2008). Nebraska is among the majority of states where parental group plans are only required to provide coverage through age 19.
In Maine a new bill aims to bring health insurance to more people, in particular offering incentives to younger people to buy individual health insurance. (Bangor Daily News, April 5, 2008) The proposed health insurance reforms would make health insurance more affordable to those whose employers do not offer health insurance benefits and/or buy health insurance on their own. The idea being that an influx of younger adults will counteract the older and less healthy who currently make up the bulk of the individual health insurance market and drive costs upward.
What are my options?
Well, you could wait for your state to adopt a universal healthcare program. Already in place in Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont, it would appear New Jersey may be next to mandate health insurance for all: New York Times (March 18, 2008). Other states may follow. Yours may be among the chosen few. If not, you could follow the examples and advice in our blog, Student Health Insurance, Feb 8, 2008.
Or read more on Iowa Health Insurance, Maine Health Insurance, Nebraska Health Insurance and New Jersey Health Insurance.
Or be sure to play the lotto!