Young pushing change of policy for health insurance

Cyndi Rose is an administrative assistant at California State University, Sacramento, and hopes to finish her college studies one day.

The 24-year-old Carmichael resident makes $15 an hour, lives with her parents and prays she won't get sick because she says she can't afford health insurance.

Most of her friends, Rose said, are in the same bind. Nearly a third of Californians between the ages of 20 and 29 don't have insurance, the biggest share of any demographic group, according to the California Health Interview Survey, conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Critics call them "young invincibles" or "young immortals," daredevils more interested in spending money on the latest electronic gadgets than insuring themselves against calamity. But health-care advocates say as fewer employers offer job-based insurance, the main obstacle to coverage is affordable health care. They note that young people starting their careers now face a changed job market, with increased reliance on temporary workers, part-time workers, subcontractors and extended probation periods.

Rose dropped out of UC Davis a year shy of a degree after her money ran out. Now a temporary worker in the student affairs office at CSUS, she is not eligible for employer-based health insurance.

Until she turned 24, Rose was insured through her parents' policy. She inquired about buying an individual policy but concluded the high-deductible, limited plans on the market weren't worth the price – more than $100 a month.

"What's the point if I could never see a doctor unless I was dying?" she asked. "Like the majority of my friends, it comes down to whether we want to keep our cars from being repossessed and paying down high-interest credit cards."

According to the California Health Interview Survey, three out of four uninsured employees either work for an employer that does not offer coverage at all or are not eligible for their employer's health plans.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health plan – scheduled to get its first hearing Wednesday by the Assembly Health Committee – would require individuals to purchase health insurance and would provide subsidies for the poor.

But Democrats who control the Legislature oppose the individual mandate and contend the subsidies proposed by the governor would not be sufficient for many low- and middle-income families.

While most uninsured young adults are comparatively healthy, many – like Robert Heredia and Jacqueline Kelly – have medical needs that they can't afford.

Heredia, 19, works about 30 hours a week making minimum wage as a bus boy at Centro Cocina Mexicana, a Sacramento restaurant, and attends Sacramento City College off and on.

He suffers from cardiomyopathy, a disease in which the heart muscles become inflamed and malfunction. Heredia has been uninsured since he turned 19, the age limit for the state's Healthy Families program.

Since he can't afford regular medical care and barely affords medication, the emergency room at Sutter General Hospital has become his doctor of last resort.

By federal law, emergency rooms must treat everyone who comes through their doors and have become primary caregivers for a large percentage of the 6.7 million people without insurance in California.

Three times since January, Heredia has been rushed to the emergency room with stabbing chest pain and gasping for air. The last time, he had to leave work while spitting up blood.

"I wish I could get regular treatment, but there's no way we could afford it," said Heredia, who lives in South Sacramento with his family. "It's just something I'll have to live with."

Education once provided a road to medical coverage. But nationwide, two of every five college graduates will become uninsured in the year after leaving school, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan think tank.

Peter Harbage, a health-care consultant with the New America Foundation, said the challenge for insurers is developing a product line that's affordable for young adults without job-based insurance.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Aurelio Rojas can be reached at (916) 326-5545 or arojas@sacbee.com.