YOUNG PEOPLE NEED HEALTH INSURANCE

I'm amazed that there is so much talk on the injustice to demanding that young people have health insurance because they don't need it.  It is like saying you don't need home owners insurance because your house is unlikely to burn down.

Well, injuries are the second leading health cost cost after heart disease* and youth has plenty of accidents, often with trips to the emergency room, doctors offices, and hospitalization.  Among the many things attributable to youth are falls, skate board accidents, skiing accidents, automobile accidents, rough and tumble accidents, attempted suicides, poisonings, cuts, assaults, etc.  And youth are not immune to illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, drug overdoses, asthma, infected bug bites, severe sun burn, etc. that can lead to visits of the emergency room.*  The demographics of emergency room use is bimodal with one group of frequent users being the age range 25-44 and the other 65+.**  The younger than 25 group may be less frequent users because they are covered by health insurance on the parents policies and may more frequently go to doctors offices and hospitals.

For New South Wales, Australia, the hospitalization costs of drivers peaks in the 15-24 age grouping with male costs three times larger than for females after which the costs taper off  for both.***  New York had 2,825 hospital stays from traffic accidents in the 15-24 age group in 2007 with an average charge per injured person of $33,000-$35,000.***  Emergency room charges were less but still $1,000-$1,400/person with total costs of $25-30 million.***

There is also the aspect that you pay into the health system when young and withdraw from it more when you are old.  I understand that there may be suspicion that the system may not be there when you are old.

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/06/summary-health-costs-and-medical.html
http://www.santacruzhealth.org/phealth/CountyHealthReport/2012/pdfs/26-Non-Fatal%20Injuries%20Chapter.pdf
**http://www.acep.org/uploadedFiles/ACEP/News_Room/NewsMediaResources/Press_Conferences/Annals-FrequentUsersMyths-LaCalle7-2010.pdf
***http://s3.amazonaws.com/zanran_storage/www.irmrc.unsw.edu.au/ContentPages/43995543.pdf#page=74 (You may have to register to see this document but it is free.)
http://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/prevention/injury_prevention/traffic/new_york_state/nys_age_hosp.pdf
http://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/prevention/injury_prevention/traffic/new_york_state/nys_age_ed.pdf