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10 D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E accidents. "It bothers me that someone in front of me could slam on their brakes and if I rear-end them, it could cause not only problems for my car and car insurance, but medical prob- lems for me," he says. When he passes by an auto accident, he can't help thinking, "That could be me." Taylor has been an avid surfer since his teen years, and catch- es waves almost daily if he can. It relieves stress and serves as exercise, entertainment, and hobby. But since he doesn't have insurance, he knows he's taking a risk when he enters the water. "This might sound kind of funny, but when the waves are bigger, I'm more cautious," says Taylor. But being careful isn't enough sometimes. This summer, when Taylor was traveling in Costa Rica, another surfer ran over his face with his board, gashing Taylor's forehead and sending him to the local ER for four stitches. At the hospital, the clerks asked him for his insurance card, but since he didn't have one, they charged him the regular price, a grand total of $150. Fortunate- ly, the other surfer offered to pay most of it. But Taylor thinks it's strange that he actually feels lucky to have gotten injured in a foreign country because medical care there is so much cheap- er. "If I had gotten hurt here, who knows how much it could have been?" he says. "$500? Even a $1000?" It's not fair that he has to worry constantly about what awful mishap might befall him next, he says, while other people who happen to work for companies that provide health insurance do not. "The fact that I don't have health insurance affects the way I interact with more monied people, whether I'm serving them or just stepping out on the street and interacting with them," Taylor says. "I feel like I'm not valued, like I'm a second-class cit- izen or something." He's tried to find different jobs, but what's available is just more of the same. "It's all things like working in a coffee house or some other service job, and those don't have health insurance, either," he says. "This country definitely needs to provide prac- tical health coverage for everyone." T aylor's mother, Lorna Grundeman, RN, just can't get over how absurd it is to know that her son can't get affordable medical attention at the very same hospital where she works. "The whole situation is so ironic," she says. "People that aren't doing as well as Chris can get healthcare. People doing better than Chris can get healthcare. He's just right in the middle." As a mother, she worries about Taylor. "My main concern is not that he'll get sick, but that he'll get hurt," says Grundeman. "Basically he's healthy, but things come up." People have asked her why she doesn't just buy health insur- ance for her son, but from what she's seen, the catastrophic plans insurers are now offering young adults don't cover much regu- lar, preventative care and come saddled with extremely high de- ductibles. She couldn't afford to pay out of pocket for a quality plan, though. The whole situation's got her feeling a bit guilty, but that guilt soon turns to indignation when she remembers that her son wouldn't lack basic medical care if only the coun- try had a universal, single-payer healthcare system. "It's insane that we live in this country of vast wealth and we can't supply mundane healthcare for our citizens, just average Americans like Chris," says Grundeman. "I'm proud of him. He's pulling his weight. But society has decided that he's not doing a very good job, that he doesn't deserve healthcare or to have his teeth looked at." Taylor says that after he finishes this second year of studies, he hopes to transfer to a four-year college where his tuition fees should get him access to healthcare through a student health center. For now, he says, he just tries to take care of himself and pray his luck holds. As he says, "You hope for the best." Lucia Hwang is editor of California Nurse. *ALL NUMBERS REFLECT NON-ELDERLY POPULATION, AGES 0 THROUGH 64. SOURCE: EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RESEARCH INSTITUTE ESTIMATES OF THE CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY, MARCH 2005 SUPPLEMENT. Age Group of the Uninsured California Residents, 2004* Total Under 18 18–20 21–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 20.9% 12.4% 31.8% 31% 21.4% 18.1% 15.9% 39.9% Likelihood of Being Uninsured by Age Group California Residents, 2004* 8% 18% 7% 12% 24% 18% 13% 55–64 Under 18 18–20 21–24 25–35 35–44 45–54 Feature Story