August 24, 2009

Healthcare: A Moral Obligation

Posted by Adam Waxman at 1:26PM

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There was a fascinating op-ed in The New York Times, taking a broad look at the question of the universe of the uninsured. The Times breaks down each group of uninsured and takes a look at them. The whole article is well worth a read, but I was especially struck by this passage discussing young people:

Some 13 million young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 lack coverage. These are not, for the most part, healthy young professionals making a sensible decision to pay their own minimal medical bills rather than buy insurance that they are unlikely to need. The Kaiser foundation estimates that only 10 percent are college graduates, and only 5 percent have incomes above $60,000 a year, while half have family incomes below $16,000 a year. Many of these younger people would be helped by reform bills that would provide subsidized coverage for the poor and an exchange where individuals can buy cheaper insurance than is now available.

Now, when I think of a Millennial, I will be honest and say I think of my friends from college. Reading the newspaper at least every couple of days and keeping up with John Stewart to get a handle on the news. They vote. I can't help but suspect that most people, when they think of "young people," tend to think of college students. Yet, as the Times noted in the above op-ed, the young people who are seriously hurting and need health care reform are not in school -- they work part time (or full time when they can get it) jobs in low wage America. The question that begs for me is, what should be the responsibility of those of us who do have the privileges associated with going to school and white collar jobs?

Now, people may remember my interview with Ezra Klein where he made an important point: health care is an issue that impacts everyone, so it's a little self-defeating to try to box out certain groups and ask "what's in it for me?" I do think, however, that the young people who can have a responsibility to take up this fight. There was a pretty depressing article in the AP recently about young people and health care, which basically recycled an old meme that youth are uninterested in health care because they don't see it impacting them personally. For me, however, this is the money graph (emphasis mine):

Younger people are generally healthier and rely on less medical care, particularly young working men who make up the largest group that goes voluntarily without health insurance. They also are less likely to be as vocal at contentious town halls; many are either working or in school during the daytime forums.

When things are scheduled makes a difference, doesn't it? The reality is that other voices are simply being heard over ours. Obviously, that's true for many of the people who are directly impacted by lack of access to health care in this country -- gosh, you'd love to go talk to your Senator, but don't you know, you just got put down for another double shift at the diner, and well, it's the only job you've got.

Many young people, I am willing to guess, could make their voices heard within the confines of town hall meetings and so on and so forth. I tend to believe that we (because I count myself in those ranks) have a moral obligation to speak up for everyone who can't. When we stood together last November, we made history. We need to do it again to enact historic change that will make American better for everyone.