Congress voted to overhaul the health care system on a Sunday. On Monday, Patti Lawson e-mailed her employer's human resources office to ask how soon she could get her 22-year-old daughter back on her health insurance.
In about six months, the new law will allow at least 2 million young adults to be covered under their parents' policies. These are the "millennials," those who came of age in the new century and now are struggling to get on their feet during the worst slump since the Depression.
Many can't find jobs, and many who are employed don't have health coverage from their employers.
The law will allow young adults to stay on or return to their parents' insurance until age 26. To qualify, young people must be "dependents" of their parents. They don't necessarily have to live under the same roof.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-04-02-insurance-graduate_N.htm
Can poor people afford to add (and pay for) their unemployed adult children's return to their parent's health insurance policies? Working class people? Blue collar workers? Struggling middle class? No. No. No. No.
This is a gift to the upper middle class and rich segments of our society, who can afford to pay a few thousand per year to add their adult children back onto their health insurance policies for some peace of mind. This is why all the T.V. talking heads celebrated passage of the healthcare bill - - so far, they're among the immediate beneficiaries.
I would like to see a breakdown of the socio economic standing of those taking advantage of this provision. Then, we can discuss whether this is the segment of our society which should receive government assistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment