July 15, 2004
The Village Voice reports that college graduates are joining the uninsured masses
I just do not understand how a culture that prides itself on being the most advanced one on this earth can still deprive its citizens of something as fundamental as basic health care. Years ago, whenever I found out that someone I knew didn't have health insurance, I was aghast, especially when that person was educated and employed. Our deplorable health care system now affects a much wider demographic, among them young college graduates.
This is the subject of "One Sick Fall" (by Solana Pyne), the latest in a series of articles in The Village Voice on Generation Debt - The New Economics of Being Young. As this piece points out, today's graduates face gloomy prospects as they go out into the workplace, where, because of the rise in insurance costs, employers are less likely to provide health benefits. For many students, who already have the weight of huge student loan and credit card debts on their minds as they go into the world, this is just another mind-boggling blow. I don't remember it being this tough when I left school. Back then, tuition at the private university I attended was a fraction of what it is today (not so preposterously out of line with what my family could afford), financial aid in the form of federal grants covered a meaningful portion of my tuition and expenses, and many entry level jobs I was qualified for paid enough to cover rent and other living expenses in addition to providing full health insurance coverage at no cost to me.
I have deep respect for college graduates who have to face such a hostile world(never mind what those who go on to graduate school have to face). When health insurance has become a luxury, I have to wonder how we're better off than people in third world countries.
Posted by HK at July 15, 2004 05:31 PM