WASHINGTON (AP) — The young invincibles. That's what the insurance industry calls them. They're the 13.7 million Americans under 30 who don't have health insurance because, they firmly believe, they just don't need it. Why waste money on something they're too healthy to ever use?

In the debate over health care, lawmakers and industry agree that persuading this statistically healthy demographic to jump into the insurance pool would bring down costs for the broader population.

The United States is the only developed country that does not have a comprehensive national health care plan for all its citizens, and President Barack Obama has made overhauling health care his top domestic priority.
But for young adults to make the leap and buy their own, health industry experts and youth advocacy groups say, Congress needs to focus more on affordability than invincibility.

In a country where most people receive health insurance from their employers, young adults are more likely than other age groups to work low-wage, entry-level jobs that don't offer insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. As a result, Americans aged 19 to 29 have the highest uninsured rate in the United States. "Do I really want to pay $200 a month so I can get antibiotics whenever I catch a cold?'' asked 30-year-old Will Mohring, a Washington restaurant manager who makes about $45,000 a year.

Mohring has been uninsured for about a year. He said his decision to forego insurance was eased by the security of having good family genes and the burden of $400-a-month student loan payments. "I don't think not having health insurance is a good thing,'' he said. "I think if it was affordable, and that's the key, if it was affordable I would definitely have it.''

Insurance industry experts say it's important to bring young people like Mohring into the system because they're healthy and don't need costly medical care. Their premiums would help subsidize older, less healthy people in the insurance pool, thereby bringing down average costs. That's one of the reasons why the health care bills circulating in Congress would require most Americans to get health insurance, or face a fine.

The plan is basically intended as a tax on young people to help lower the cost for others, said Martin Feldstein, a conservative economist who served as President Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser. But 27-year-old Aaron Smith, co-founder of the ironically named Young Invincibles youth advocacy group, encourages his peers to take the long view of health care.

"I think young people can accept the idea that it's OK for us to pay a little more now to, you know, make sure that the system works well in the long term,'' Smith said. "There will come a time when we are older, and we are sicker, and then the system will take care of us.'' But that concept doesn't sit well with 24-year-old Leone Edwards, a part-time security guard and jewelry maker from District Heights, Maryland, who recently had her employer-provided health benefits slashed as a result of budget cuts. "I think what would worry me is me paying for someone else's health care,'' Edwards said. "That would be (my) biggest issue.''

Many of the health care overhaul provisions in Congress would affect young Americans, and a few were drafted specifically with that demographic in mind.

Young adults would be able to piggyback on a parent's insurance through age 26 in the proposed Senate bill, or age 27 in the House-passed bill.

"I think that takes a load off a lot of college students' shoulders,'' said Brittany McGrath, 22, a senior at the University of Maryland. McGrath said she'll be dropped from her father's insurance shortly after graduating in December, but said being able to stay on his plan longer would ease her mind as she begins job hunting.