22 Year old Dies Uninsured

Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
22 Year old Dies Uninsured
120
Tue, 09-29-2009 - 9:05am
Doctors say now that she died, not from swine flu, but from viral pneumonia, but the cause is less relevant than the fact that she died at all.
Like a large number of young people in this country, this young woman was uninsured. Most young people can't afford private insurance because the jobs they hold don't offer it or don't pay enough. These are kids who haven't yet gotten their first "good" job with benefits. Some are still in college. Some are working p/t while going to school. Some may not, for various reasons, be retained on their parents' health insurance. In any case, most of them rarely earn enough to pay for health insurance so they do without.

Shouldn't there be something in place to protect these young people?


Uninsured 22-Year-Old Boehner Constituent Dies From Swine Flu

hjnyoungkimberly09-_568332bA 22-year-old woman from Oxford, Ohio, died from swine flu on Wednesday. Kimberly Young graduated from Miami University in December and continued to live in Oxford, Ohio, within Minority Leader John Boehner’s congressional distrct. Reports now indicate that after initially getting sick, Young put off treatment because she was uninsured:



Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.


On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Young’s condition suddenly worsened and her roommate drove her to McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, where she was flown in critical condition to University Hospital in Cincinnati.


“That’s the most tragic part about it. If she had insurance, she would have gone to the doctor,” Mowery said.


According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 30 percent of 19-24 year olds are uninsured, more than any other group. Despite the conservative argument that young people are voluntarily refusing health coverage in favor of extra spending money, the reality is that high costs on the individual market put coverage out of reach. As Suzy Khimm notes at Campus Progress, young people “are far more likely to be working part-time or lower-paying jobs for employers who don’t offer coverage”:



In its 2008 study, the Commonwealth Fund found that 66 percent of young adults aged 19 to 29 who experienced a time without coverage in the past year said they had gone without it because of the cost.


Young people might have a better chance of accessing comprehensive coverage if there were a public plan, which could lower the cost of insurance, particularly for those without good employer benefits. Young people may also have a better chance at coverage if there were generous subsidies for lower-income individuals, as many take lower-paying jobs when they first enter the workforce.


Even though Boehner represents a large university, he has been an outspoken opponent of a public option that would make insurance cheaper and more accessible to recent graduates like Young. On Meet the Press last week, the Minority Leader continued to stick to the obstructionist Frank Luntz-endorsed talking points, dismissing the public option as “big government” while defending a watered-down plan.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 4:24pm
So how will you pay the premiums for the public option that so many want to see provided?
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-13-2009
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 4:29pm

I'm sorry to hear about your situation.

Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 4:42pm

That does not hold. Many companies will turn this poster down for insurance. Others will accept him/her, but at an outrageously high premium. That does not mean that the poster makes little enough to qualify for mediaid. That is the whole problem here.

~~~~~ o o o ~~~~

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

Oscar Wilde




Edited 12/2/2009 4:43 pm ET by rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-18-2009
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 4:43pm
You are right.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-18-2009
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 4:48pm
I am working Part time.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-18-2009
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 4:50pm
I have applied, only to be turned down for a pre-existing condition, by about 3 companies.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 7:07pm

I believe she may be talking about a state high risk insurance pool. Like California has. Understand that Calis has a waiting list, and



iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 7:19pm

It was ever so-gratifying when you said Welcome to the club .... it acknowledge that all the people who claimed that those of us that had private coverage had nothing to be afraid of were not telling the truth.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2009
Wed, 12-02-2009 - 10:59pm
Sorry, I meant to say Medicaid.
Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 12-03-2009 - 7:47am

Medicare and medicaid aren't automatics for when someone can't get private medical insurance.

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