SAVE

Written By: Katie Dean

The ongoing congressional debate over health care reform will eventually determine whether millions of young Americans continue to be financially crippled by a broken system.  While young people are not the widely-publicized victims of health care, our generation has been burdened disproportionately by the elusiveness of quality health care in this country.

Despite the youth health care crisis, young people are largely overlooked in the development of various health care proposals. One of the likely reasons for the lack of consideration of the 19-29 demographic is the absence of youth advocates in the health care narrative.  While Americans aged 50 and over can rely on the AARP to champion their interests, there exists no such group for the representation and defense of the health care needs of young Americans.

The irony of young people’s exclusion from the health care debate is that young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 are the most uninsured age group in the country and represent nearly one-third of all uninsured people.  Furthermore, the rising unemployment rate of this demographic, currently standing at 17.3%, puts young people at an even greater risk for a lack of health care benefits.

The economic recession has resulted in insufficient employment opportunities for young Americans, which, in turn, has greatly decreased the availability of employer-provided health insurance: Only 50% of Millennials receive health care through an employer, compared to 75% of people over 30.  Of the young Americans who have been affected by job loss, 46% have seen their health coverage disappear, but it is not only unemployed young adults who have seen a loss of benefits; 20% of young adults have been forced to take part-time jobs which typically do not offer employees health coverage.

In addition to facing the highest unemployment rates in the country, young people are also dealing with mounting debt from student loans, credit cards, and now, health care.  Over half of young adults have lost health care coverage at some point in the past five years, and during these lapses 35% of young adults have accrued substantial medical debt.  It is clear that our physical health and economic health are inextricably linked, so to tackle this crisis head-on, a group of over 20 leading youth organizations has come together to create the 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs coalition.

The 80 Million Strong coalition is working to improve the precarious state of young Americans’ health care by proposing federal legislation that would create jobs for young people across all sectors, expand training programs for young people who want to work in the health care industry, and encourage young entrepreneurship.  Our coalition emphasizes the importance of dealing with the joint problems of youth unemployment and failing health insurance collectively, for neither of these issues may be resolved if the other is allowed to continue.

The economic future of the Millennial Generation is dependent upon health care reform that opens the door to affordable coverage for all Americans through a public health insurance option.  With the foundation of quality health coverage, young people will be free to enter the workforce with one fewer obstacle to long-term financial security.

Written By: Ryan Erickson-Kulas

As the 2009 Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial Primary has ended and the general election campaign begins, one issue receiving dramatically increased attention is the restoration of voting rights for ex-felons in Virginia. All three Democratic primary candidates, including victor Creigh Deeds, came out in favor of restoring voting rights for nonviolent felons once they have finished their sentence and probation. Under current Virginia law, all convicted felons are permanently disenfranchised unless they receive a personal intervention from the governor. Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states that have such strict laws; however, similar measures exist in various forms throughout the nation. Only thirteen states and the District of Columbia allow convicted felons to vote upon release from prison and only two states allow felons to vote from prison.

Such disenfranchisement of an entire group of the population is staggering. The Sentencing Project, which is a national organization working for a fair and effective criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing law and practice, estimates that one in forty-one adults have lost their right to vote, either currently or permanently, due to a felony conviction. This problem severely affects African Americans with 1.4 million African American men being disenfranchised. Their rate of disenfranchisement, which is 13%, is seven times higher than the national average.

            While the pledge by Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidates is encouraging, there is much work to be done in returning the right to vote to felons. In the 110^th Congress, the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones introduced The Count Every Vote Act (H.R. 1381). This bill would have restored the right to vote across the nation to those felons that completed their prison sentences and probation or parole. This initiative would return the right to vote to as many as 2.1 million Americans. By enfranchising these individuals it will give them the opportunity to more effectively integrate themselves back into society as fully productive members.

At the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE), we support efforts to restore the vote for ex-felons. We believe that those individuals should be able to express their opinions and political will through the power of the ballot. A democracy cannot run effectively without input from all members of society, and the current system in Virginia and other states does not allow for input to be heard from a large segment of the population. We believe that voting is a key to effective reintroduction to society and support efforts to give felons the voting rights that have been stripped from them.