Sebelius to Speak to Youth on Health Care

In her first outreach event to the Millennial Generation, former Kansas Governor now Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will answer questions by young voters on upcoming health care reform legislation, how the HHS is doing outreach to young people, and what options for young people who continued to be uninsured.

Sebelius was unable to the 80 Million Strong for Youth Jobs summit in July which discussed at length the staggering unemployment rate for Millennials and the over 1/3 of uninsured youth. But former US Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle spoke at length about health care reform.

Daschle identified 3 main problems with today’s system

Access – 50 million people he says lack health insurance. But 48% of people who do have insurance don’t have adequate insurance or are under-insured.
Quality – Daschle reminds us that last year the World Health Organization ranked the United States 37th in the world for quality of health care, behind Costa Rica. The US is 31st in life expectancy and 29th in infant mortality, and 24th in overall women’s health.
Cost – what Daschle says is driving the debate more than anything. When he was born health care was 4% of the nation’s GDP, today its 17%, and when we’re his age the CBO projects have it at 32% of GDP. Our nation is going bankrupt because of health care.

Last Monday I was in Washington as Speaker Pelosi, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, and Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper joined with young leaders to announce the Young Adult Health Coverage Act which allows young Americans remain on their health insurance plan until they turn 26. The Congress has taken a strong first step in both dialoguing with youth on their needs, but further acting on those dialogues to ensure policy matches those needs. I’ve been amazed at how eager Members have been to work with young leaders on many of these issues, and I look forward to the White House taking a similar role.

I look forward to hearing about Secretary Sebelius’s take on young people who are uninsured or under-insured and any solutions the White House is proposing. To join in the event register here. It’s unclear if there will be video available or if the event will be live streamed but if it is we’ll bring you the information.