No new news...

It's nice that the New York Times has seen fit to address the problem of uninsured twenty-somethings. And from the tone and timing of the article, you'd think this was a new phenomenon. Or maybe it's just that the writer and editor of the piece never lived in the city (or anywhere else for that matter) without employer-paid health insurance because what the piece most lacks is a good sense of perspective.

This isn't NEW news. A lot of us struggled through the booming nineties without health insurance — it was too damn expensive then too, especially on the intermittent pay of the freelance life. Grad school wasn't much better with expensive health insurance that offered too little coverage.

The fact is our "system" treats quality, affordable health coverage as a privilege and a reward rather than a right — no matter what age you are, what you do, or what city you live in.