‘Young, Healthy’ Need Health Insurance

To the Editor: 
As of Nov. 16, the Senate version of the proposed tax reform bill has included the removal of the mandatory requirement, “the mandate,” from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, for anyone who is not covered for health insurance under an employer’s plan or their parent’s plan to obtain a health policy from one of the exchanges established for their state in the ACA.
Several Republican politicians have expressed support for the notion that those who are “young and healthy” shouldn’t have to pay for a plan they cannot afford or need because they are “young and healthy.” Encouraging anyone to drop their health insurance coverage is grossly irresponsible.
For those earning less than $35,000, there are several “silver” plans whereby the current government premium subsidy paid directly to the insurance company on their behalf reduces their monthly premium substantially. In the absence of a health policy, there is a tax penalty that must be paid.
Rather than pay a tax penalty for not having health coverage, this same amount could have been used to help pay the monthly policy premiums. Granted, many of these policies have high deductibles in the $4,000 to $6,000 range. However, an extended hospital stay with tests, scans, surgery and physical rehab could easily exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Yes, those who are “young and healthy” do get sick, use ambulance services, need to see specialists, get injured, get cancer, contract serious illnesses, have car accidents, fall off bicycles, etc. It won’t happen to them but what if it does?
Going into an emergency room and getting admitted for treatment without adequate insurance doesn’t give them a free pass just because the hospital cannot refuse treatment to the uninsured. The “young and healthy” uninsured are still responsible for the costs of their treatment that can lead to years of payback, borrowing from family or declaring personal bankruptcy affecting individual credit ratings for years.
It also makes sense to mandate health insurance for all to protect against personal financial ruin and placing an unnecessary burden on the hospital community to cover unpaid medical costs while assisting in obtaining adequate and necessary health treatment.