Jason and I lived without health insurance for about a year, and would still be without it, if I didn't have permanent employment. We feel better with it, primarily for cultural reasons, but we would not have opted for an expensive COBRA-type program. Insurance is a funny thing. We never got sick, but we worried about it.
While it is true that 20-somethings represent a large portion of uninsureds in Mass. and all over the country, it is also true that this group tends to be the healthiest. So, to some extent, the effort by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to bring in this demographic into the common insurance pool is partly one of health care economics, not just moral high-ground. To have 20-somethings paying into a health care insurance fund that they will most likely not utilize (especially for high deductible/catastophic coverage) subsidizes the system for those that are heavier consumers of the health care system. That said, it is the only way for health insurance schemes to stay afloat (which is why a government provided single-payer system still makes the most sense).
Commenting by HaloScan
