Health insurance: probably not a pressing thought for many students, but it should be. Following graduation, we will be part of one of the largest demographics of uninsured people in the country. Think you are still covered under your parents? Unlikely, since most people are cut off at college graduation. Think it does not matter since you are young, healthy and invincible? Until you are in a car accident, or fall down skiing and break you leg, or catch a bad case of the flu.
“But if I go to the emergency room, they cannot turn me away because I cannot pay.” True, if you have a life-threatening condition, but that does not mean that they will not send you a substantial bill for any services rendered, which can lead to substantial debt and bad credit, affecting your ability to buy a car or home, or even have a credit card.
Unfortunately, we are not as invincible as we would like to think. But health insurance is far from accessible. Most of us will have a few years of internships, hourly wages and recent college graduate poverty before we can get “real jobs.” In the meantime, we are forced into the constant jeopardy of over 40 million people in the United States who lack health care.
Even those with health care often cannot afford the substantial co-pays as evidenced by the fact that half of all bankruptcies in this country are caused by health bills. The U.S. is the ONLY nation in the developed world without universal health care, and it ranks 37th on the human development index. If we believe that the right to life is a right to which all humans are entitled, then it follows that all people should be allowed the right to adequate health care, regardless of their ability to pay.
So, what can you do? For starters, sign House Resolution 676, urging the creation of single payer health care in the U.S. Secondly, work on raising awareness on Capitol Hill and for the next election, and make sure that candidates have a real plan for health care and a way to carry it through. Thirdly, get involved. Write letters to your representatives, make your concerns known, because health care is a right, not a privilege.
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