By CARMEN VICE

As the end of the school year approaches, many high school and college seniors are filled with excitement of what lies ahead. Graduation ceremonies taking place over the next two months mark an incredible achievement in the lives of students who have worked hard to ensure a great future for themselves. However, as the countdown towards completing honors theses and final exams begins, another challenge looms.

Students may be unaware that, along with the opportunities that accompany their newly earned degrees, many of them will no longer qualify for their current health insurance plans and will be faced with the task of replacing them. Many of them will ultimately join a growing number of uninsured peers. Of the 46.6 million Americans who are currently without health insurance, 13 million are young adults — ages 19 to 29 — representing a disturbing increase of 2.2 million since 2000.

In the 2004 Economic Report of the President, the Bush administration perpetuated the idea that the young and uninsured of our country lack health insurance because they don’t consider it a necessity. In actuality, the fact that so many remain uninsured is more reflective of the high cost of insurance. For many young adults, funds are limited. Post-graduation, paying the rent and keeping the fridge stocked takes precedence over paying hundreds of dollars a month for insurance. When asked by an NYU journalist to comment on obtaining health insurance, a Coastal Carolina University student lamented, “When I think about health insurance, I think about a lot of money. Right now I have $300 to my name. I ate ramen noodles today. If you don’t have a job yet, how would you even pay for it?” This student’s situation is not unusual. From 1996-2000, 38 percent of college graduates went part or all of their first year after graduation without health insurance.

Further statistics support this scenario. A 2005 Report issued by the Commonwealth Fund found that although young individuals have the desire to obtain health insurance, many are no longer eligible for their parents’ health insurance that remained in place while they were students, or the Medicaid funding some may have had as children. As a result, 66 percent of young adults report “missing needed care and/or having problems paying medical bills,” and 56 percent declined to see a physician when sick. In an interview with Online Newshour, Ryan Speaker, a senior at Colorado State University, explained, “It’s either an extra month of rent, or accidental coverage. I try to be mindful of washing my hands during flu season and do the preventive things I can in the meantime.”

However, young adults are always at risk for accidents. And considering that the monthly payment and deductible of health insurance — which can range from several hundred dollars and several thousand dollars, respectively — is unaffordable to many recent grads, what happens in the case of an injury? The cost of emergency room procedures are exorbitant in comparison, with treatment for a burst appendix currently approximated at $48,151 and treatment for a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula at $101,790. Further, in addition to being more likely than older Americans to be involved in accidents that require a trip to the emergency room, many young adults begin to start families in the first several years after college. For the 3.5 million women in their twenties who become pregnant each year, prenatal care is crucial.

The unfortunate plight of so many hard-working grads as they are faced with a transitional period in their lives should force a reassessment of the overall U.S. health care system. It is unsettling that the United States is the only developed nation that does not have a consistent plan in place to protect the health of its people. Until a health care system is implemented that guarantees its citizens basic care, the government should strongly consider the feasibility of short-term health insurance plans, or extending current policies for recent graduates that are attempting to establish stable living situations for themselves. While programs are in place that provide care to most children and the elderly, one’s health should be recognized as something of great value by their country throughout their lives — not overlooked from their senior year of college until they become senior citizens.

Carmen Vice is a sophomore majoring in human biology, and her op-ed was submitted by the Roosevelt Institution.