Health care debate strikes City College students

Uninsured young adults hit hardest, report shows

Charlene Jones | Staff Writer
jonesc27@imail.losrios.edu

The national debate over health care solutions struck home for City College, as a recent report showed one in four young adults under 30 are uninsured in California.

The June report also indicated that young adults are the fastest growing group without health insurance, based on evidence collected by Health Access California, a statewide advocacy coalition and supporter of universal health care.

“Our job is to help the students be successful, and one of the things that really gets in the way of that… is when they don’t have insurance,” City College Health Services nurse Jeffery Christian said.

As Congress strains to produce legislation that addresses health care reform, Americans show a growing concern over whether such legislation will help, as indicated by a September ABC News-Washington Post poll.

City College student Ariel Smith is wary of too much tinkering with the system and believes any change should serve those in the workforce.

“I don’t know if it should be to… the drastic extent where everyone should be covered,” the engineering major said. “What motivation do they have to get a job and try [to] get their own health insurance?”

Anthony Butler, a City College criminal justice major, has different concerns.

“Everybody should be covered by health care,” said Butler, who sees a remedy in legislative efforts. “A lot of people might have a problem and are not even covered; that’s going to be hard on them, very hard.”

The Health Services nurse observes that while most younger students appear to be healthy, more are coming in with a lot of stress due to life challenges, all of which can affect health.

However, according to Christian, while some students pay for care or go to free clinics and emergency rooms, others don’t follow up because they feel they have nowhere to turn.

“I am hoping that somehow between the government and the private sector, they can come up with something that can work for everybody,” Christian said.