Health care: Young adults need it too!
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| Thu, 02-05-2009 - 9:14am |
Hi everyone. Thankfully the health care bill for children was signed into law by President Obama. But... what will happen next for our OLDER children? Some states have started to pass laws to allow older children (who have graduated from college or high school but have no health insurance yet ) to remain on their parents policies until they are 29. Smart thinking!!!! Some states have other limited options but some options have limited eligibility.
I think all the states should follow suit and allow families to elect to have older children remain on health insurance policies until age 29. By that time the children should have other health insurance!!.
Here in NY Gov. Patterson is working on such a measure. Any NY folks out there? I support Gov Patterson's proposals and hope they become law very soon. We cannot allow our older children to go without health insurance. In this poor job market what young adult can afford $900 per month to maintain health care coverage with an HMO or PPO.The jobs are few and far between and the salaries are terribly low.. it is absolutely terrible that young adults have to face this problem. They NEED health insurance. It should not be a CHOICE between needs ie. pay for school loans,eat,have heat and a place to live or buy health insurance...I hope others will agree with me. If enough of us speak up maybe we will be heard by our leaders and can help our youth get started in a healthy life!! Thanks for listening. Rifka

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When exactly does childhood end, and adulthood begin?
Also no one thinks the insurance companies are going to keep all these "Kids" on their parents policies free of charge?
That is an interesting question as to when does childhood end and adulthood begin. Legally I guess 21 but in reality it can be much younger or older depending upon the circumstances.We could debate that point for hours! There is no one correct answer I don't think really!
The problem is that the young people who are 18 or 21 and finish school and "age off" their parents health insurance policy are not bothering to buy health insurance because it's too expensive. Individual policies are around $900 per month. Who can afford that if they don't have a job, have to pay student loans etc etc. Some states are starting to expand the options.
That leaves a huge portion of the population uninsured. That is a very scary fact. This age group thinks they are strong and don't need health insurance but they do because they can get sick or injured as well as anyone else. That's why I'm trying to speak up about the issue.
It's terrible that this whole segment of the population in so many states just goes without insurance. One hospital stay and they can be wiped out financially. That's why it is so important to extend the family coverage into the late 20's. Let the kids get odd jobs and pay the policy premium but at least they will have insurance and at a rate that is affordable if they continue on the family plan. These kids need some help. They also have to get their loans paid and get their act together. Getting sick and not being able to pay the bills will just make things worse. This generation that is graduating are the future parents, leaders etc. of America. We can't just let them go without health insurance and take their chances.....It's mind boggling to think about! Rifka
In our country traditionally adulthood occurs at 18. Of late some appear to desire childhood to run to ages 30 or higher. In my state child support can continue to 23. This was the result of a desire by state legislators to "catch up" with other states that already had child support to age 23. I think the last attempt at SCHIP defined a child as someone to age 26.
Some mothers would define childhood through age 100.
"I think the last attempt at SCHIP defined a child as someone to age 26."
That's outragious!
Show me where it would be 900.00 in taxation?Is there a link for that? OH, we already have socialism, you get Fire protection, you get Police protection, you get Public Schools, all paid for by our taxes. We have plenty of money to go to kill people in Wars, but very little to SAVE people's lives.
Last time I looked, the numbers for SCHIP were provided. I divided the number covered by the annual cost of the program. After that I divided by 12 to get the monthly cost per person.
It worked out to be the same as the cost for my kids private insurance.
There was NO savings using a government program. However payments to providers are lower with the government program. The formulary is also significantly smaller. You pay the same and essentially get less.
The only difference a government program makes is who gets to pay. My guess is some prefer others to pay for them.
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