"It's only a few months—I'd take a chance," my boyfriend said, when I was trying to decide if I should spend $418 a month on temporary COBRA health insurance after leaving my full-time job or go without coverage.
It was extremely tempting to follow his advice, especially since that payment would wipe out nearly half my monthly freelance income indefinitely. But in the end, I decided the risk was too great. A car accident or unexpected health crisis could send me—and most likely my parents—tumbling toward bankruptcy. I was healthy. But you really never know.
He justified my decision only a few months later, in the worst of ways.
I didn't know he'd gone to see a doctor, so it was jarring when Eric called just after his appointment to tell me about the lump on his testicle. It didn't look good, his doctor had said. He'd have to come back in a few days for the results of some tests.
When we returned, a kind young doctor in a quiet room told us the bad news. The testicle would need to be removed and then we'd have to wait a week or two to determine the next step—likely either chemotherapy or major lymph node surgery. Cancer is all about uncertainty.
The good news was testicular cancer is the most curable kind—boasting a cure-rate in the mid-90th percentile. Eric was going to be fine. We just didn't know what he'd have to endure to get there.
It's been about eight weeks since Eric's initial diagnosis, and so far he's had two painful biopsies, two surgeries (the second to remove a cancerous node in his lung), countless blood tests, x-rays, CT scans and consultations. He started an intensive nine-week chemotherapy regimen this Monday. Despite all of this, Eric is lucky—he has health insurance through his job at his family's jewelry manufacturing company. Without it, he would already have fallen into debilitating debt. But even with his relatively robust plan, Eric is still paying a tremendous amount of additional expenses. His parents' business struggles to cover the cost of insurance for its employees, and shortly before he was diagnosed, Eric was faced with a choice of having his rates go up or increasing his co-pay.
"I figured, I never get sick," he recalls, and chose the co-pay increase. He now pays between $40 and $80 every time he sees a specialist, plus fees for his hospital stays. He estimates aleady spending more than $200 just for parking in the hospital garage.
Watching Eric's costs pile up, even with "good" health insurance, it's easy to see how medical costs send so many Americans into financial ruin every year. And considering the cost of health insurance in this country, especially for someone in between jobs, it's also easy to see why so many young people can't afford to insure themselves, or choose to roll the dice.
The fastest growing group of uninsured people in the United States is those between the ages of 19 and 29. Young people make up nearly 30% of the 47 million people lacking health insurance, despite comprising only 17% percent of the population.
Almost everyone—including both major presidential candidates—agrees our health care system is broken. But proposed solutions to the problem vary widely. John McCain and Barack Obama have each proposed a plan to help relieve Americans of soaring health care costs. Their major points are as follows:
Under the McCain plan:
-Everyone who obtains private health insurance regardless of employment status would be given a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families), intended to help people pay for coverage.
-Employer-provided health insurance would no longer be tax-exempt. The $2,500 credit is meant to also cover the cost of the new taxes.
-Insurance markets would be deregulated, which means people could buy insurance in any state they choose. This would allow people to buy less expensive coverage in states with fewer mandates.
-McCain would work with individual states to increase the aid pool for people who are otherwise uninsurable as an individual. This money would go toward helping people who are denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
-McCain would work to pass medical malpractice reform, theoretically driving down hospital costs.
Under the Obama plan:
-All children must be insured.
-Low-income Americans would receive subsidies to help them afford health insurance.
-Employers would be required either to offer health insurance to their employees or pay a tax that would go toward helping uninsured people obtain coverage. Small businesses would receive a subsidy to help cover this expense.
-Denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions would be prohibited.
-A national health care plan similar to Medicare would be created for individuals and small businesses. This would theoretically increase competition between public and private insurance providers and motivate private companies to keep costs down.
McCain's plan is projected to cost $1.3 trillion and Obama's $1.6 trillion. Neither explicitly calls for universal health coverage.
Young people think they won't get sick, but they are often wrong. It's up to you to decide which candidate will provide you with the best access to health care on November 4th.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOUT ERIC'S EXPERIENCE HERE.