Healthcare: A Necessity for both young and old?

The question that is posed in Congress lately is Healthcare for all. Should the younger generation purchase health insurance? Health care premiums are seen as very expensive and insurers are cultivating ways to encourage younger people to purchase health insurance. Insurers agree that younger people should be charged less than older people due to the likely-hood of younger person becoming sick or injured as compared to an older person. An increase in the purchasing of health insurance would help balance out the cost of insuring people who use more medical care. A bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee allows insurers to charge 4 times more to older people. This can be beneficial because most people would argue that making premiums to high for younger people would decrease the amount of insurance purchased by younger people. Their is another dilemma. Their are many subsidies for lower income Americans and many younger people fall into this category while the working 55-64 age group do not because they make enough money to exempt themselves from the subsidies but not enough to deal with the high premiums set by the insurance companies. The 55-64 age group is basically paying 20% of their salary to health insurance because they do not recieve these government subsidies. Alissa Fox, senior vice president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, says that the government should provide these middle aged Americans with proper subsidies to help aid them with the insurance premiums. Others also say that health insurance can be forced upon the younger generation by requiring employers to provide it. Congress has a tough choice to make. Should younger people purchase health insurance?

In the end, this seemingly technical choice of where to set age rates may come down to America's unique belief in individualism versus the principal of social solidarity.

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