The younger we are the more we tend to think that we are invincible and do not need health insurance. Cancer, broken bones, and weird illnesses with names that we can’t pronounce are all things that happen to other people and never to us—right? Wrong! [...]

Young people are the least likely to be insured, the least likely to need healthcare, and the least talked-about group in the healthcare debate. Yet we may end up paying dearly for healthcare reform. If you’re young and healthy like me, you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about healthcare. And that’s probably alright—you’re young and healthy. But there are just a few things that every young adult really does need to know about healthcare:

Over 47 million Americans lack health insurance; 39 percent of the uninsured are between the ages of 18 and 34, according to Qvisory.

It makes sense that young people are the least insured. We’re more likely to be in school or working part-time and not have access to employer-sponsored health insurance. We don’t qualify for government programs like Medicaid. Our incomes are low, so we can’t afford even the least expensive policies. Finally, because we’re young and healthy, many of us simply feel invincible and like we don’t need insurance. [...]