Thank God The Kids Will Pay For Health Reform
Despite rhetoric to the contrary, government policies tend to take from the relatively poor and give to the relatively wealthy (see the Medicare prescription drug plan for an example). And so it is with health insurance reform, where it'll be the kids who pay for the rest of us:
Drafting young adults into any health-care reform package [via laws that they purchase insurance] is crucial to paying for it. As low-cost additions to insurance pools, young adults would help dilute the expense of covering older, sicker people. Depending on how Congress requires insurers to price their policies, this group could even wind up paying disproportionately hefty premiums—effectively subsidizing coverage for their parents.
An array of Democratic senators continued to complain Tuesday about the affordability of reform, insisting that the final package should include much larger tax credits to help people cover the cost of insurance premiums.
And in case you're wondering whether reforms are shaping up along the most basic lines of logic, check this out:
To discourage [young adults from not buying coverage], the Finance Committee bill would fine individuals who do not purchase coverage. An early draft of the proposal set the penalty at $750 or $950 per year for single people, depending on income. But according to various insurance experts, even the least expensive plan under the bill could cost more than $100 per month, making it cheaper for people to pay the fine than to buy insurance.
Meet some of what the insurance industry calls "the young invincibles," or young adults who forego health insurance to purchase more pressing goods and services, below.
