Home  About  Chapters  Policy  Publications  Join  Jobs  Donate  Blog  Daniel Maree acts as Master of Ceremonies at the AU Launch News from the National Office Post-Election Center TI Launched Roosevelt LiveBlogs the Presidential Debate On Campus Midwest Regional Fall Policy Workshop Blum speaks at Vermont Campus Compact conference Coverage of the Johns Hopkins Chapter Launch > More "Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country." — Franklin Roosevelt    Health care access for youth > Roosevelt Home > Roosevelt Challenges > Health care access for youth Your name: Your email: Recipient's name: Recipient's email: Message: To prevent spam, please enter the first letter of the recipient's email and the first letter of the recipient's name in the box below (for example, if the name is "John Doe" and the email is "bigjohn@johndoe.com", you would enter "jb"): By Robert Nelb Categories: Labor and workers' rights, Public health, Social policy The Challenge: Ensure access to health care for America’s youth How the proposed Challenge meets the challenge criteria: Applicable throughout the geographic United States Approachable at local, state, and national levels of government Approachable from a variety of academic disciplines and specialties 1. Students in every state are faced with the problems of America’s broken health system, and unfortunately no state has fully solved the problem of the uninsured. 2. Not only is the geographical breadth of this issue huge, but the impact is also felt at all levels. In addition to examining funding policy at the national level and the implementation of SCHIP and other programs at the state level, chapters can also look locally at their own universities’ policies for health insurance. 3. As fellows examine the broad range issues that influence health insurance, maintaining a fresh, interdisciplinary approach is critical. Students of public health, economics, education policy, and political science in general should find this topic engaging and relevant. Vision or background behind the proposed Challenge: Today, 35.6% of Americans ages 21-24 lack health insurance, the largest of any age group. Often unable to be insured as a dependent of their parents and stuck with entry-level jobs that don’t offer health benefits, young adults have long been the forgotten component in health care coverage. While most young adults are generally healthy, a simple accident can easily break the bank. Today, more than half of all bankruptcies today are due to medical expenses. From an economic and public health perspective, something must be done. Fortunately, the timing is ripe. Massachusetts recently passed an innovative health insurance plan that has attracted national attention, and in 2007 Congress is planned to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which has significantly helped increase health insurance coverage among children. Policy makers are looking for new ideas on this issue, and progressive policies from the voices of Roosevelt students could make a significant impact. Why Roosevelt should take on this Challenge over others: This challenge is relevant to students, relevant to policy makers, and in urgent need of the kind of progressive thinking that Roosevelt offers. While many of the other challenges are issue-specific, this challenge requires a combination of many different disciplines and provides opportunities for every fellow to contribute. Comments Kai H Stinchcombe, Sun 30 Jul 10:43 pm PST: Is this something that would be solved by a single proposal, or something where multiple proposals from different backgrounds could be synergistic? In other words, could we envision "top ten ways to improve healthcare access for youth" or would this be developing a single plan, "Roosevelt's plan to get healthcare to youth?" If the latter, I can't imagine what comparative advantage we have over, say, all the legislative analysts in Massachussetts. , Mon 31 Jul 12:00 am PST: I was thinking bringing in multiple proposals from many different backgrounds. The advantage we would have is the student's perspective of a student's problem. Stephanie Holland, Fri 11 Aug 11:59 am PST: I applaud your efforts in this area. Perhaps sweeping legislation would be required to force insurance companies to offer their services to those with economic disabilities, such as low-paying, entry-level jobs, or college students with a decent GPA. If forcing the insurance companies to do this on their own isn't feasible, perhaps the government can offer such programs for students already enrolled in college in the form of a grant to help pay for the rising costs of health insurance. If something like this were to pass into law, I worry about the amount of paperwork one would have to fill out just to get the grant (or the health care). How much red tape will students have to go through to get that health care? We already go through stacks of papers just to get the funding we need to enroll.   The Roosevelt Institution is a nonpartisan, nonprofit national think tank devoted to bringing students' policy ideas to the policy process. The opinions expressed on this site are exclusively those of its members. DC Headquarters: Roosevelt Institution / 2100 M St NW Suite 610 / Washington, DC 20037 || (202) 833-1359