Where Lies Responsibility?
When you turn 19 or graduate from college, you fall off your parents’ health insurance (assuming the parents had coverage). That, according to the New York Times, has created a rise in “do it yourself” medical care by a lot of 20-somethings.
“They borrow leftover prescription drugs from their friends, attempt to self-diagnose ailments online, stretch their diabetes and asthma medicines for as long as possible and set their own broken bones.”
A doctor was quoted: “We often see young people who have taken the wrong antibiotics borrowed from friends. We see urinary tract infections taking meds better suited for ear infections or pneumonia — the problem is, they haven’t really treated their illness and they’re breeding resistance.”
It is understandable when you see young adults trying to start a career making less a month than the health insurance would cost. It is understandable when a 2-day stay in the hospital costs a young adult more than a year’s college tuition.
It is understandable, but that does not make the problem go away. Where lies responsibility? Hospitals already donate an average of 9% of their revenue to community health — much of it to provide care to the uninsured. Soon it’s like getting blood from a turnip.
Health care reform is in bad need for a fix. While we are bailing out car manufacturers and banks and launching heroic measures to bring our economy out of a near-depression, we wait for answers on healthcare.
In the meantime, young adults remain a population in peril.
Filed Under: News & Careers
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