Lee Crawford says she knows what it feels like to live without health insurance. It wasn't long ago that this college graduate applied for coverage, only to get rejected.
"She said 'sorry we're not going to be able to insure you'," says 24-year-old Crawford.
The Columbia native says she was completely stunned, at why a person her age would ever be denied adequate health insurance.
"To me it made no sense, and I still don't really understand. Even when I got off the phone with her. It was a very brief conversation."
Crawford says she took a gamble by not having health insurance as she made her way to New York City for an unpaid internship. But it wasn't until months later, that her decision would come back to haunt her. Crawford says it was one trip to the Emergency Room that put her in an unfortunate situation, as she paid off her thousands in debt for the next 8 months.
Carrie Draper is with the South Carolina Fair Share, a non profit group that works to improve the lives of everyday people. She says that the number of young professionals in similar situations continues to grow.
"As of 2007, about 42% of 18 to 24-year-olds, which is about 188,000 people in that age bracket, in South Carolina are uninsured," says Draper.
She says the only way to pay for the medical bills is to ultimately acquire more debt.
Crawford says she hopes talks about health care reform bring some much needed change and quick. This September, the future English teacher turns 25-years-old, which will put her once again off of her parents' health care plan. And with only one more year left of graduate school, Crawford will have to figure it out for herself.
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