Near Elderly Particularly Vulnerable To Being Uninsured, Columnist Notes

Rising medical costs that drive higher premiums have made health coverage unaffordable for many adults, and those between the ages of 50 and 64 are "especially vulnerable," columnist Abigail Trafford writes in the Washington Post health section. She continues, "They are too young for Medicare [and] too old for public programs to support young families," and they may lack group coverage if they were laid off, retired early or "had to stop working because of health problems." Such adults are then left "at the mercy of the marketplace for individual health plans, where they are penalized for their age and health status." John Rother, AARP policy director, said, "People are uninsured for different reasons. The fundamental problem is the inability to pay premiums. Where we're falling down completely is with adults, people who are older. We don't have anything there for them, except charity care." Although lawmakers have proposed some "incremental steps" to assist the country's 40 million uninsured, the measures "do not get at the fatal dynamic [of rising costs and premiums] that is eroding the health care system today." According to Trafford, uninsured adults are left playing a game of "Medical Roulette," hoping to avoid illness. Right now, the most that this "Lost Generation" of uninsured "can hope for is to live long enough to make it to Medicare," she concludes (Trafford, Washington Post, 4/23).