Many young Oklahoma adults reject health coverage

While framing a house a few years ago, Christopher Scott of Norman injured his elbow when he nearly fell from the roof. Severely cut and scraped, he was sure he'd broken a bone.

After X-rays in the emergency room proved it was a sprain, Scott left with a sling and a $1,000 bill. He'd sporadically had health insurance coverage when he'd worked for commercial construction firms. But this time, Scott, then 31, was working for himself and flying without it.

Scott's story is familiar to observers in Oklahoma's insurance industry. Of the state's more than 687,000 uninsured, 47 percent are adults 19 to 32, or what Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland calls the "bulletproof generation' ' those who forgo coverage opting for the risk over the expense.

Beth Bendure, a health insurance agent with Magill Insurance in Weatherford, and her husband, Bill Bendure, a business consultant and trainer, frequently see such invincible attitudes among young workers.

"They think they're fine, healthy and feel good, and don't think about family history,' Beth Bendure said. She's seen 20-somethings injured in four-wheeler accidents or diagnosed with breast cancer.

One uninsured man had lip cancer and was so financially ravaged with medical bills, he had to file bankruptcy, she said.

Bendure, 60, knows about unexpected health crises. A breast cancer survivor, she was told on her birthday four years ago that a lump she discovered was malignant.

"Even with the diagnosis, I felt such relief I had insurance,' she said. "It's frustrating that young people or families go without. They say they can't afford it, but can you afford not to have it?'

Bendure's care totaled $130,000.

Depending upon the policy, college students can remain on their parents' coverage until 24 or 25, Bendure said.

Twenty- to 24-year-olds can buy short-term, six-month policies, with $1,000 deductibles, for $48 a month and $108 to $299 monthly for standard policies, depending on gender and maternity riders, she said.

Low priority
Bill Bendure's experience working with restaurants and convenient stores is young single employees want free or discounted food more than insurance.

"In employee opinion surveys, health insurance doesn't even rank in the top five,' he said.

Employees instead want deeper discounts, or the ability to take home food or order out on their days off, he said.

The younger generation is using emergency rooms as primary care clinics, Holland said.

Of the nearly 1.07 million 2005 to 2007 visits to emergency rooms at Oklahoma County hospitals, studies show 49 percent entailed conditions that potentially could have been addressed in a primary care setting, she said.

Most were made during daytime hours and, aside from children 5 and under, adults 20 to 29 comprised the bulk of the load.

"That tells us they think they're bulletproof, but they're not,' Holland said. "They're using the ER for things most go to the doctor for and probably not paying the bill, or being burdened by it.'

Dropping plans
Since the new benefit year in January, Cher Bumps of Cher A. Bumps & Associates employee benefit consulting firm in Oklahoma City, has noticed workers of all ages dropping health insurance.

"Employers are offering plans for $25 to $80 a month, and employees are turning them down because they know they can just show up in the emergency room where hospitals are legally required to provide care,' she said.

Ron Bradley, 50, of Moore is among those going bare.

Bradley decided to ride out an information technology contract job with a local energy company until he was hopefully hired and also insured, but lost the job at Thanksgiving.

He waived COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) with his previous employer because the cost, then without federal subsidies, was "astronomical' at $525 a month, he said.

"While I haven't had any major issues with my health, knock on wood, I realize one emergency room visit would wipe me out,' Bradley, who's completing a bachelor's in computer science, said.

Meanwhile, Christopher Scott, now a junior studio arts major at the University of Oklahoma, isn't taking any chances.

Scott bought a $350 plan through the campus clinic for the school year.

"I'm getting olderish, and a little bit more cautious,' he said.

"If something happens, I'm already up to my neck in student loan bills. So, it's worth the stretch.'