No One is a “Young Invincible”

I just posted a blog on Huffington about this.  Most of us know people who have had health challenges in their youth.  At the age of 30, I was unfortunate to find a lump but fortunate to have had the health care coverage to allow me to find the best doctors.  They saved my life.

While we muck about with the problems of signing up for Obamacare, frustration is growing.  Add to this the tendency for so many in the press to focus on the negative — all that has gone wrong and could go wrong in the future — and lives are being put at risk. Senators and Congressman are busily pointing fingers while young people already inclined to think they’re invincible, walk away from the only hope they’ll have if they become ill.

You would think that after the CBS 60 Minutes apology for sloppy reporting about Benghazi, other “journalists” would be endeavoring to get their facts straight.  You would think that most of them would understand the dangerous repercussions of providing constant doom-and-gloom scenarios.  The result may well be young people with serious illnesses unable to get the care they need to survive.

When young people fall seriously ill, multiple people suffer.  Family members worry and if the patient does not have healthcare, they often spend whatever they have to save their loved one’s life.  It’s irresponsible to not remind those who think they can do without health insurance that their decision to take a risk takes a risk for everyone who cares about them.

It’s time to get that message out before it’s too late.  We’d all like to deny that we’re vulnerable rather than invincible.  Young people are particularly prone to that fiction, especially if they feel good.  Those of us who have seen the sharp curves life can present should be getting the message out that youth is not adequate illness prevention.  And saving money on healthcare is shortsighted at best.