Under the health insurance reform bill signed earlier this year by President Obama, health insurance companies will be required to cover children through age 25 on family health insurance plans.
This portion of the reform goes into effect in September, extending insurance to what is expected to be a large portion of the 30 percent of young adults nationwide who are without health insurance. The group accounts for approximately one-fifth of the 45 million uninsured Americans.
In the past, as many as three-quarters of children were dropped from their parents' health insurance after graduating from high school or college, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy foundation.
With this new benefit for young adults comes new responsibilities, experts say. Like other adult health care consumers, these newly insured young adults will need to learn the importance of self-advocacy in the American health care system.
What is "Self-Advocacy"?
Self-advocacy means that you become an advocate for quality health care in your life. Being an advocate for your care means:
- Asking questions of your health care provider any time you don't understand something
- Asking for what you want in your health care
- Keeping track of the care you receive, such as writing down the advice you receive, the medications prescribed to you, etc.
What to Do When Something Goes Wrong
Even when patients are strong, articulate, conscientious advocates in the course of their care, things can go wrong and they don't get the results from a medication or surgery that they hoped for. Most of the time, the negative, unwanted results are due to complications from other medical problems, but in some cases, it is because of a misdiagnosis, the failure to prescribe the proper medication, surgical mistakes and other preventable errors.
Medical malpractice exists in cases where negligence on the part of physicians or hospital staff causes injury or makes a medical condition worse or even causes death.
If you believe you or a loved one has been harmed by medical malpractice, contact a Texas medical malpractice attorney who can evaluate the facts of your case. A medical malpractice lawyer will know how to evaluate your case and determine whether there is evidence of negligence.
