No easy answer for cardiac arrest survivor

This young man's journey is the reason people should HAVE to have health insurance. No one THINKS they are going to get sick and need medical care until they do. At that point it is near impossible to get the necessary medical care without insurance, as illustrated by this anectdote.

Yes, I'm 27 and a recent PhD college grad. I have a 6-month supplemental insurance policy that is pretty much an ER-only care policy with a $5,000 deductible. Thankfully, I had no pre-existing conditions. Money is tight but I should have a job soon. There is definitely a gap in insurance coverage in the U.S. Young adults 20-30 yrs old are generally the healthiest age group, and we would be relatively inexpensive for HMO's to cover. I would like either a private or public health option. No U.S. citizen should have to suffer the stress or financial burden of not having any or adequate health insurance coverage when they want to be proactive, decent citizens who are caught in a medical limbo.

I'm a recent college grad and thankfully Illinois has a law where young adults still be covered under their parent's insurance so I have coverage. Many of my friends are not as lucky. I recently went into the dermatologist where I was found to have a precancerous mole. It frightens me to think if I waited until I found a job that offered health insurance to get it checked out, the mole may have become cancerous. Young people are typically healthy but like the above poster commented, many young people don't think they need health insurance until they do.

My 21 year old son had an emergency apendectomy without insurance two years ago. The total bill from the hospital and all the services was just over $25,000. When he told the hospital of his situation, they said they'd reduce their $18,000 portion to only $7,000 if he'd pay the amount the same day. I put it on my credit card. He finally paid the last of all his bills last month. It was a huge expense and burden for him but he did manage it.

Some of this boils down to differences across state lines. My niece is in her 20's . She was doing animal research under a grant (which also covered insurance). WHen the grant and project concluded, she was out and no insurance. However, her father's policy was able to pick her up on it. There were some caveats but she was still able to be covered - so part of the challenge may be the differences between insurance carriers in the states. I would at least suggest that insurance companies be allowed to cross state borders. As a start, that may alleviate at least some of the problems.

Im a 27 year old college grad who is without insurance. I had health insurance last year but with a $9500 in betwork deductible and an $18000 out of network deductible, it just wasn't feasible to pay for it. After having some urinary tract problems a little over a year ago, I had to have a surgery which was only offered out of network. The in network and out of network deductibles were both met and I was on the hook for nearly $30000 of the bills totaling about twice that. It was pitiful to think that even with health insurance I was bankrupt. After recovering physically I filed for bankruptcy and had these medical bills discharged. I guess thats why I am not a fan of mandating people to purchase.