No jobs, no insurance: Hard times for young adults

Emily Weinstein graduated from college into an economic meltdown, and as a self-employed jewelry maker she'll be lucky to bring in $16,000 this year.

Heath insurance is out of reach, so she avoids thinking about what would happen if she got sick, was hurt in a traffic accident or was severely burned while making a silver necklace in her home studio.

"Would I have to declare bankruptcy at age 23 or would my parents have to bail me out?" asked Weinstein, of Portland, Ore. "What would I do?"

Like millions of other uninsured adults in their 20s, Weinstein is watching Congress as it advances legislation to overhaul health care. The recession has deepened young adults' career struggles. It has also sharpened their interest in health insurance.

Already the least likely of any age group to have coverage, adults in their 20s face brutal job searches and more time uninsured because of the recession. Nearly 30 percent, 13.2 million, were uninsured in 2007, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based research center. Many young adults work entry-level jobs without insurance and, despite new laws in some states, they're eventually too old to stay on their parents' policies.

A June survey for the Kaiser Family Foundation found young adults don't vary much from their elders in views on health care, said public opinion researcher Mollyann Brodie of Kaiser.

But twentysomethings were nearly twice as likely as senior citizens to say they would be "better off" if President Barack Obama and Congress reformed the health care system. People in their 20s were more likely than senior citizens to say they would be willing to pay more so that more Americans could be insured. The nationally representative random sample of 1,205 adults was conducted by land line and cell phone by Princeton Survey Research Associates.

Some features in the health care plans working their way through Congress would benefit young adults. Depending on their income, they could qualify for subsidies on insurance premiums or, for the poorest, expansion of Medicaid.

One plan allows them to stay on their parents' policies until age 26.