blueprints
The First Years Out
Health in the Real World
Young adults are the largest
and fastest-growing population
of uninsured
“A lot of students are on their parents’
insurance until they graduate,” says Jennifer
Kriss ’05, who co-authored the report. “If
[graduates] are not able to get insurance
through an employer or through a parent’s
employer and they have to buy individual
insurance on their own, it’s
very expensive, with high
premiums and high co-pays.
This age group is in jobs
that are lower paid anyway, so
they don’t have the income
to put towards buying individual policies. Also, they
may not think it’s important
in relation to other things
they’re paying for.”
Kriss faced that situation.
A public health major at
Carolina, she went without
coverage for the few
months between graduation
and landing her job as a
program assistant at the
Commonwealth Fund.
Under COBRA, a federal
law that allows continued
coverage for a short term
under certain circumstances,
Kriss could have bought
insurance through her par-
ents’ employers, but she
chose not to because it was
expensive. “I felt a little
nervous because things happen,” she says.
“But I felt pretty healthy, and it worked out
OK.” She didn’t face a waiting period for
coverage when she started
her job, and her employer
now pays the full premium.
Another hurdle for
recent college graduates
may be not knowing what insurance
options are available, Kriss says. Or new
alumni may figure they’ll soon have a job
with benefits, so why buy a policy for just
a few months? “This age group is mainly
healthy, but it’s still important to go to the
doctor every year and have preventive visits
Close-up: a bee walks the rim of a
plastic cup filled
with pink punch.
Voiceover: “But enough
about me. Let’s talk about
you.”
The camera pulls back,
and we see a goateed man,
leering slightly, drink from
the cup. Suddenly, his eyes
widen and he spits punch all
over his female companion.
Text: “Bee sting, allergic
reaction, $354 cash. Stuff
happens. It could cost ya. You
need health care coverage.”
Ironically, actor and playwright Mike Wiley ’04
(MFA) didn’t have health
coverage when he made that
commercial for George
Washington Health Insurance
in 1999. Then 28, Wiley was
living a peripatetic life, acting
professionally with companies across the country in
between waiting tables and
working on and off for a
New York ad agency.
“Sometimes an actor has to be so
gypsy-like, able to move from one place to
another without a lot of ties,” Wiley says.
“It was too difficult and too
expensive to have health
insurance.” Something else
stopped him, too. “At that
age, especially for a male, you
sort of think you’re invincible. What’s
going to happen? If I do break my leg, I’ll
have to pay for it. I go to the doctor once
every couple of years. Why am I making
the health insurance company fat off my
payment and not getting anything out of
it?”
Wiley lost his health insurance when
he graduated from Catawba College in
1996. For the next five years, until he
started graduate school at UNC and
bought the student plan, Wiley had coverage
for short stretches. “I’ve got to eat, and I
deductibles
networks
-
o
c
p
a
s
y
pre-existing
conditions
benefits
Health insurance
can’t ensure good
health, but it can offer
peace of mind.
can’t eat insurance,” he’d tell himself.
Sound familiar? Young adults between
the ages of 19 and 29 are the largest and
‘I’ve got to eat, and I can’t eat insurance,’ Mike Wiley ’04
rationalized for the five years he was uninsured.
fastest-growing segment of the population
without health insurance, the Commonwealth Fund reported in May 2006. In 2004,
according to the fund, 13. 7 million 19 to 29
year olds lacked health coverage, an increase
of 2. 5 million from 2000. The reasons are
complex, but the main hurdle is cost.
