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Rising Costs
The Roberts Family
Janet Roberts graduated from Stanford and her husband George is a physicist at Argonne labs. You wouldn’t think these Chicago suburbanites would have to worry about health insurance. But think again. Both of the Roberts’ children, MaryAnn and John, have graduated from college and are working towards professional careers. Yet this transition from school to work has not been easy, with the biggest instability surrounding health coverage.
The Roberts’ son John always had a remarkable voice and pursued a degree in music. He now supports himself with as many singing gigs as possible- also waiting tables full-time on the side. His sister MaryAnn completed culinary school at the College of DuPage and has a part-time chef position at an upscale restaurant. Neither of these two are offered health benefits through their jobs. Nor can they afford to buy quality insurance in the individual market, so what do they do?
Naturally, their parents were very concerned, especially since MaryAnn has a chronic medical condition and needs immediate access to primary care. Therefore, Janet and George now spend roughly $7000 annually to insure their children. This situation, however, must be a short-term solution as the couple needs to be saving for retirement. The sad thing is that this is becoming a reality for more and more Americans. Nationally young adults make up 17% of the non-elderly population, yet account for 30% of the uninsured in that group. Some parents, like the Roberts, are fortunate enough to be able to support them. However, many are not. Those young adults can only bank on their youth and that no medical emergency will throw them into debt.
Thankfully, for young adults like MaryAnn and John, there’s a potential relief on the healthcare front. On March 7, 2007, Governor Blagojevich announced a plan called Illinois Covered Choice that would allow any individual who does not have access to an employer-sponsored health plan the option of buying into affordable health coverage. Illinois lawmakers are also looking into changes to Illinois insurance law to raise the dependency level on family health insurance plans to 29.
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