In New York magazine, David Amsden chronicles the plight of New York’s young uninsured (The Young Invincibles). Conducting over 50 interviews with friends, and friends of friends, he tries to get at how being uninsured has affected their lives. He writes, that “If there was a dominant theme to these conversations, it was that being uninsured has a distinct way of tweaking one’s perception of the city: New York becomes a kind of phobia-forming obstacle course, one navigated with the goal of keeping doctors at bay.” Many follow elaborately obsessive routines to avoid even minor risks of injury or illness.
But the writer comes to find out that keeping the doctors at bay is not an easy job. He learns that “even the youngest, healthiest, most resilient bodies can malfunction in mysterious ways. One morning you wake up with a minor stomachache, and before you know it, you’re in the hospital, delirious with pain, waiting to see the doctor. “
Amsden discovers something else about being uninsured. It’s not only the cost of care that’s worrisome; you are also afraid that the care you do get will be substandard because you don’t have insurance.
So some friends resort to unusual ruses. One admits, for example, to carrying an expired Blue Cross card in his wallet. “You never know, maybe they’ll think I have insurance and I’ll get better care.”
But being uninsured in New York is not without its ironies. One friend said “I would never live without my cell phone, but I won’t consider buying health insurance. It sounds ridiculous to say that out loud, but the fact is insurance is just too expensive. If it was the same price as my phone I’d buy it in a second.”
