Young people have a gripe

"We are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent,

---And young.---

We should be together.
Come on all you people stand-in around.
Our life's too fine to let it die
We should be together."

          Jefferson Airplane, October 1969

The virus response gives young people renewed grievance. It gives the political system a new reason to re-think health care. 

We should be together.

Spring break

Bernie Sanders had a clear path. It was down to Sleepy Joe versus the guy who electrified crowds. Sanders was going to expand the electorate by getting young people to vote their interests.

On Super Tuesday young voters did what young voters do: they didn't show up. Young Americans blew their chance, but maybe they get a do-over. 

They have a grievance. The virus has put attention on public health, a concept that has been largely missing in the debate over access to health care.

The young are getting screwed. Maybe they know it, but likely not. They just know it is expensive. The Affordable Care Act--Obamacare--makes health care affordable for more people, and assures people with pre-existing conditions can get health insurance. It does it primarily by expanding the health insurance pool. Young, healthy people are induced to buy health insurance, putting them into the same pool as older, less healthy people, subsidizing them. The system is made less bad for the young by the taxpayer contributions. Still, the heart of the program is the intergenerational transfer.

The Republican approach has been worse. It is to end both the ACA and taxpayer contribution that made it semi-affordable for young people. 

There is one policy proposal out there which is young-people friendly: Medicare for All. Republicans relentlessly campaign against it. Democrats are better on this issue than Republicans, but in choosing "Medicare for all who want it,"  they still leave in place an intergenerational subsidy. 

Why do the young get taken advantage of? Old people vote and young people do not.

Coronavirus response refocuses attention on generational equity. We are asking a lot of young people. It is time to repay them.

There is reportage and commentary on the unequal burdens created by the virus pandemic.  The people most at risk of death, the elderly and health-impaired, are the ones best able to shelter in place. 

Policymakers and the public are aware that the best response to the virus is shutting down the economy so the health care system can cope with the emergency. That hurts everyone, but it especially burdens the young. They have jobs to get too. We aren't telling seniors to deal with the issue by hide from an active economy. We are telling everyone to shut down the economy.

Reportage and commentary tsk-tsk at young people ignoring social distancing. They get sick, too, the experts warn, and are urged to think of others, to be considerate. They should understand that the health of all of us depends on joint sacrifice. Young people spread infection to the old. We are all in this together.

Now? So now we are in it together?

The virus reminds us of the value of having healthy people around us. Obama attempted partially to socialize the costs in the ACA. Republicans fought it at every step, and then won big in 2010 on a platform of opposition to the ACA. They said paying for your health care is your problem, not society's problem. Republican messaging was about individual responsibility. Get off the taxpayer's back. We aren't our brother's keeper. That is socialism. 

Socialism

Yet, in the midst of a contagious disease we are confronted not just with the socialization of disease but the socialization of the response to the disease. 

Young people are asked to sacrifice, to protect their own health, yes, but primarily the health of another generation. Why shouldn't a young person go ahead and risk infection and spreading it? The person he is protecting--the senior who votes for candidates opposing expanded health coverage-- doesn't care about that young person's health. Why should that young person all of a sudden care about the health of the senior? Isn't that socialism? Is he his brother's keeper?

State governors have shut down the economy for the good of the whole society. At some point the politicians will begin calling it the socialization of health care. 

Perhaps, if young people wake up and make the argument loud and strong enough, seniors will recognize their own obligations, and young people will actually turn out and vote their own interests. That is the missing ingredient for Democrats. It isn't the will. It is the votes. Democrats need young people to show up.

Democratic candidate who planted a stake in the ground before the coronavirus crisis have a justification for changing their position, and maybe the electoral wherewithal to win an election.

Our life's too fine to let it die.

We can be together.