For many young adults like me, it’s particularly difficult to afford insurance working in entry-level, low-wage or temporary jobs. It’s even harder when you are also going to school.
As a part-time student at a public university, and a part-time employee in a small business, I'm not eligible for health insurance through my school or my employer.
A few years ago, I discovered that my right kidney was abnormally small and filled with about a dozen stones that were trying to pass from the kidney. I had emergency surgery to remove the kidney and was lucky that I was covered under my father's insurance because it would have cost $34,000.
I now need regular check-ups and a contrast CT scan every two years to make sure my remaining kidney is still functioning. I was dropped from my father's insurance when I turned 25 last year and spent several months without those regular checkups - worrying and hoping that I would not have another emergency.
Because health care reform requires private insurers to cover young adults up to age 26 to through their parent's insurance plan, I will be able to afford the contrast CT scan this year.