In the parlance of the health care industry, Ms. [Alanna] Boyd, whose case remains unresolved, is among the \u201cyoung invincibles\u201d\u009d \u201d\u201d people in their 20s who shun insurance either because their age makes them feel invulnerable or because expensive policies are out of reach. Young adults are the nation\u2019s largest group of uninsured \u201d\u201d there were 13.2 million of them nationally in 2007, or 29 percent, according to the latest figures from the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York.<\/p>\n
Gov. David A. Paterson of New York has proposed allowing parents to claim these young adults as dependents for insurance purposes up to age 29, as more than two dozen other states have done in the past decade. Community Catalyst, a Boston-based health care consumer advocacy group, released a report this month urging states to ease eligibility requirements to allow adult children access to their parents\u2019 coverage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a big sense of urgency,\u201d\u009d said Susan Sherry, the deputy director of Community Catalyst. She described uninsured young adults as especially vulnerable. \u201cPeople are losing their jobs, and a lot of jobs don\u2019t carry health insurance. They\u2019re new to the work force, they\u2019ve been covered under their parents or school plans, and then they drop off the cliff.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
If Governor Paterson\u2019s proposal is approved, an estimated 80,000 of the 775,000 uninsured young adults across New York State would be covered under their parents\u2019 insurance plans. That would leave hundreds of thousands to continue relying on a scattershot network of improvised and often haphazard health care remedies.<\/p>\n
In dozens of interviews around the city, these so-called young invincibles described the challenge of living in a high-priced city on low-paying jobs, where staying healthy is one part scavenger hunt and one part balancing act, with high stakes and no safety net.<\/p>\n