Young Adults and Health Insurance

Sunday's Tulsa World reported this story: Young Adults And Health Insurance. Basically, young adults (here defined by ages 18-32) are one of the largest groups of people not currently enrolled in any sort of health insurance. As the government becomes more and more concerned about the uninsured, one way some states are attempting to solve the problem is by extending the time children can be enrolled on their parent's health insurance all the way to 29 or 30 years old.

I don't understand why this plan would need to be in effect. I don't understand, and yet I do. There is an ever increasing lengthening of adolescence in our culture. A generation ago, adulthood began somewhere between 18-22. Two generations ago it was definitely 18. Three generations ago, functional adulthood may have begun even earlier that 18 for some people. But with my generation, adulthood is not beginning now until 30, 35, and maybe even 40, remember the movie Stepbrothers?"

I am continually amazed by the number of people who move back in with their parents after college or are dependent on their bills (or some of their bills) being paid for by their parents after college. I understand that there is also an "invincibility" thought out there for young adults not on health care, but why are some of us still dependent on their parents for their cell phones? I also understand that there are special cases where people need help from their parents (like grad-school students), but this dependency is much deeper than those who are currently in grad school.

I wonder what the spiritual implications are to this longevity of adolescence?

I see one major implication: My generation (I was born in 1981) has a messed up view of responsibility. Our is a generation yearning for social responsibilty and social justice, and yet I see so little personal responsibility.

For instance, many of us seem to live with the understanding that our financial situation should be on par with what we had while still being dependent on our parents. We forget that many of our parents had to struggle to achieve financial success (And there is a whole other conversation of whether Boomers really have financial success with their rampant materialism and lack of savings). We have a sense that we are entitled to have new technology, big tvs, nice houses, expensive cars (even if they are green), etc. So, there are many of us who cannot afford health insurance (hence the reason I'm writing this). There are also many of us who cannot afford to give to charity. I wonder though if these same people have iPhones, drive cars under 5 years old, have 40 inch + tvs. For Christians, this materialism is a grave signpost of irresponsibility. I see a generation that desperately wants to make a difference in the world, but is shying away from really engaging the social morals that the Boomers hold dear.

It seems that, for many, materialism is the god we serve while hoping not to lose our soul in the process. Eventually, this is going to catch up with us. As Christians, we need to repent of this materialism and learn through budgeting, giving, and responsible spending to use money to serve God, not serve money actively and God passively.

I see this lack of responsibility at the churuch a lot. We need people to step into leadership and service yet for some reason we are still dependent on the Boomers to lead. This last Sunday, we had a prayer vigil sign up to pray for the students on mission this next week. The response from those may age was pitiful. Why? We all know that people will get prayed for, but we are waiting for someone else to do it. Why?

I know I've been overly harsh here, but I'm very concerned over what I see developing. At the same time, though, I see great hope. I see a generation that is concerned with the earth, concerned with social justice, concerned with urban revitalization, and many who are giving up careers to work with the poor both here and abroad. This last paragraph should have been expanded, but this is already a long post.