There are 45.8 million Americans living without health insurance, that number is said to grow to by 10 million over the next decade. There are about 5 million students in America living without health insurance, and even though the majority of the uninsured students are between the ages of 18 and 24, and are in good health, the Obama administration's plan is reform health care to make health care more accessible and affordable to the young and the rest of 45.8 million.
There are many student's who are insured by their parents insurance plans, but with the unemployment rate reaching 10% many recent grads are joining the ranks of the unemployed and the uninsured. In the current economic climate, many young college grads have more to worry about than health insurance, and with Obama's plan for health insurance young grads can focus on getting a job and continue to be healthy and fit without the worries of affording hefty insurance premiums and deductibles.
Affordable and accessible health insurance for students is a worthy endeavor and health care reform has been given some serious effort since 1993, and 1/7 of the federal budget is already spent on medicare and medicaid so rising costs of maintaining Americans health is already expensive and if health care reform is planned and executed improperly the same individuals that would benefit from immediate and accessible health care could be burdened in the long run.
The rising cost of health care soared above $2 trillion dollars in 2008, so the cost of health is the true culprit for providing a viable health care plan to all Americans. The US Federal Government only collected $2.52 trillion in FY2008 so the government cannot afford to spend unwisely, and Obama's plan is not to make sweeping changes in medicine but to invest into smart, innovative, and efficient technologies that will lower health care costs. Obama's first step into lowering costs is upgrading medical records from a paper system to a more secured digital one, cutting administrative costs and lessen tax-payers burden but it would also make an individual's records more accessible to a physician and make a doctor's job easier.
Also implementing programs for our younger students in K-12 that encourage exercise and sensible dietary practices could eventually set the foundation for a healthier future for Americans. Preventative measures are important, with US ranking 27th on the life expectancy globally, while Japan is ranked number one in life expectancy but spend a 1/3 of what the US does, so spending the most on a health system doesn't generally mean a county is going to be the healthiest. Health and wellbeing has to start early, with our young children, to young adults so they live long healthy lives. Health care reform could possibly help our young adults and students maintain their health that way they can focus maintaining our country into the leader in technology, innovation and culture as it has been in the past.