Main Street

Young But Not Invincible

Not too long ago, I mentioned the Y.I. Want Change campaign to mobilize young people for health care reform. Now, Young Invincibles co-founder Ari Matusiak has written a piece for the AFL-CIO explaining his organization’s take on young people and health care. Noting that young people “are disproportionately uninsured or underinsured, yet are still highly likely to need costly medical care” – that they are not, in other words, invincible, he draws a strong connection between the health of health care and the health of the labor market.

Building on the growing feeling of disenfranchisement, young adults now have a voice in the debate and can offer a prescription for how to begin addressing the insurance woes that plague this group. Organizations such as Young Invincibles have issued a concrete and attainable series of goals for Congress to include in the health care bill. These include a cap on insurance premiums for low-income Americans, an extension of parental health benefits until age 26 and a public option that would make affordable insurance available to all.

Finally, any bill that passes must eliminate insurance companies’ ability to deny coverage for chronic ailments or to charge outrageous deductibles for those unlucky enough to live with hypertension or heart disease or for anyone at all.

The ramifications of significant health care reform are enormous. By reducing the likelihood of a catastrophic slide into debt, reform will yield a generation of young workers who are more independent and productive and a labor landscape that remains vibrant.  It is time for us to push hard for reform. The stakes have never been higher.

We hope you can join us.

Tags: health care reform, young workers