Ensuring some insurance

This winter break, while images of sugarplum fairies should have been dancing in my head, I experienced instead a different sort of hallucinogenic experience: recovery from wisdom teeth removal.\nThe dentist told me uprooting the teeth wasn't of a timely manner. They weren't causing me any pain, and he estimated they wouldn't be problematic until 10 years from now, when they would slowly begin to destroy my jawbone. Now or later, he said.\nI chose now, even if it meant sacrificing Christmas peppermints for gaping, bloody holes in my mouth. Like thousands of students, I'm covered as a dependent by my parents' health insurance. Without the help of insurance, the whole procedure would have been about $100 per tooth. \nWhen graduation rolls around in May though, and I'm no longer a full-time student, I'm going to join the ranks of the nation's fastest-growing uninsured population: ages 18 to 24. \nAccording to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics, 30 percent of young Americans had no health insurance in 2003. To a neurotic like myself, that prospect is frightening.\nDon't get the impression I sit around thinking about health insurance all day. I've spent three-and-a-half proud years of college not thinking about not only health insurance, but a string of other things I find to be nauseatingly adult. Typically I would put the phrase "health insurance" alongside other sleep aids, like Nyquil or the Sealy Posturepedic bed or the movie "The Thin Red Line." \nThere's no doubt that health insurance is long, boring and complicated. But, reluctantly, I've come to realize that like most long, boring and complicated things, it's necessary for my well-being. \nI've noticed they have "exciting" and "young" and "hip" names to target the college-aged demographic. During the break, I read about Tonik, a product from Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., that has low-cost, high-deductible plans with condescending names ranging from "Thrill Seeker" (the cheapest) to "Part-Time Daredevil" (mid-priced) to "Calculated Risk Taker" (the most expensive).\nAt first, my pride was hurt. I hate being catered to like I'm some 22-year-old moron. Then I realized, wait, I am a moron when it comes to this. So I kept reading, and found that Tonik -- which isn't available in Indiana yet -- turns out to be pretty easy to understand and easy to use. Admittedly, that's something I'm looking for in an insurance provider.\nUnless I'm lucky to score a nice job with full benefits, there's going to be this uncomfortable limbo between school and the workforce. That gap will take a backseat to more pressing concerns -- securing a job, making car payments, finding a place to live, etc.\nBut that gap also provides the perfect window for an insurance company to win me over. With the amazing number of uninsured young people, it's surprising the insurance industry isn't actively promoting health care plans. We're a gigantic untapped market, teeming with potential customers. \nAnd if it takes some "hip" insurance provider treating us like we're morons to get us covered for health care concerns, well, I suppose that's better than paying $400 to get some teeth removed.