Bankruptcy
Young people try to navigate adulthood without insurance
By Katie Campbell
Staff Writer
May 21, 2004
The impacts reach even further.
"When one person files for bankruptcy over medical debt, everyone pays," said Todd
Zywicki, the Federal Trade Commission's Office of Policy Planning director and associate
law professor at George Mason University in Arlington, Va.
"The hospital usually gets nothing back, so at least some of those costs get passed
on to other people." Costs are recouped through raising prices for medical services,
which translates to higher insurance premiums.
But Dvorkin said that doesn't explain why medical costs and insurance premiums are
so high.
"It's because doctors are so afraid of getting sued," he said. "Doctors are prescribing
extra tests, to make doubly sure they're prescribing the latest and greatest treatments
so they don't get sued."
However the costs are rising, for Rebholz it means market-rate insurance plans are
climbing out of reach.
The average family health plan is about $9,000 a year, said Pat Chaney, executive director of the National Coalition for Health Care. That's expected to ascend to
$14,000 by 2006.
"It's too expensive. They don't make enough money," Chaney said. "Young people,
by the force of economy and by their own sense of invincibility, they end up going
without insurance."
Kaplan didn't worry much about being without coverage for 11 months after he graduated
last May until his benefits kicked in from the
job he started in December, working
in medical billing and marketing for a local medical firm. "I look at it as if I
think I'm well, I am well.
You just have to keep a good attitude," said the healthy
young optimist.
That's easy to say for someone who hasn't been to a medical
doctor since he was 6 years old. Kaplan and Rebholz see only one way to safety: Get married. Then Rebholz
could purchase coverage through her new husband's insurance. But the wedding isn't
scheduled until next January.
Until then, Rebholz will continue to go without coverage and the "what-ifs" will
continue to linger in her thoughts.
