Young Americans need healthcare reform and healthcare reform needs young Americans.

Generation H is a volunteer driven coalition of organizations around the country taking a hands-on approach to engaging, educating and empowering young Americans to reform a failed health care system.

Americans have been trying to reform our failed health care system for almost 100 years. From FDR to Truman to Reagan to Clinton, each major reform attempt has failed, partly because they didn't have a grassroots movement behind them, and partly because the powerful insurance companies and lobbyists invested millions of dollars on misinformation campaigns to defeat them.

However, our health care system has reached a critical point where reform is absolutely necessary for the future sustainability of our nation's economy. The insurance companies, the hospitals, the grassroots organizations, and the politicians have all come to the table to enact comprehensive health care reform in 2009. It's now our responsibility to make sure they are true to their word and that the type of reform is meaningful.

Young people are core to the success of health care reform this year. They are deeply affected by the health care crisis (Americans under the age of 35 make up an astounding 65% of the uninsured population), in strong support of reform (66% of young people support universal health care), and have proven themselves as a key demographic during elections.

Our campaign is a hands-on approach to health care reform. Here are a few things we're doing that you can get plugged into:

• Fake Doctors For Real Reform: What could be more fun than dressing up in a costume and working for social change? So we dress up as doctors (scrubs, lab coats, stethoscopes and all) and talk to our fellow Americans about health care reform at concerts, festivals, and places like that. Taking part in a fake doctor invasion is a great way to learn more about health care reform – and grab attention to help spread the news to others.
• What the Health?!?! Guides to Reform: Health care reform has a lot of ins, a lot of outs, and what-have-yous. We're developing simple and effective guides for young people that explain the current health care crisis and options for reform. Before you know it, you will actually know what they are talking about on Meet the Press.
  
• Story Gathering: Health care is naturally a very personal issue for many of us. We're gathering stories of young people that have been impacted to shed light on what's wrong with our system. We'll be recording these on our flip cameras and posting them on our website along with sending them to our members of congress.
• What the Health?!?! Issue Forum: A forum about the ins and outs of health care reform--straight from your members of congress.
  
• Other Stuff: We've got lots of ideas, but we want to hear from what you think would be fun and effective, too. Let us know your ideas for the Generation H health care campaign.

Mythbusting Health Care Reform

MYTH #1 Health care reform is going to be too expensive and will increase taxes

In the long run, reforming the system and ensuring coverage for everyone will significantly bring down the cost of health care. By making prevention and primary care accessible for everyone, the system won't have to pay for expensive treatments for diseases that could have been prevented or treated at a much lower cost and it will relieve overcrowding at expensive emergency rooms. The creation of a public insurance plan will save money because it won't be paying for things like CEO bonuses and will also result in the private insurance companies lowering their rates to compete.

MYTH #2 Reform will take away "patient choice" and I won't be able to choose which doctors I go to

A likely reform being debated in Washington right now is the creation of a public health insurance option. This health insurance plan would be managed by the Federal Government, would be available to everyone, and would pay private health care providers (doctors, hospitals, etc) for health care costs provided to you, the patient. This plan would only be an option and everyone would still have the choice of keeping their current insurance plan. If you choose the public plan, you will still get to choose your doctor and hospital. So, in many ways, reform will create more options by providing alternatives to the private health insurance industry.

MYTH #3 Health Care Reform will create long lines and waiting times at the doctor's office

This is often used as a scare tactic by insurance companies and special interest lobbyists who oppose reform. However, it's not true and the real scary part is this: Americans wait longer for same-day access to care than most nations with universal coverage. The United States has the highest rate of preventable deaths among 19 industrialized nations due to a lack of timely and effective care.

Myth #4 Health Care Reform is socialism, which is bad.

True socialized medicine means that the health care providers and facilities (hospitals, doctors, etc) are owned and operated by the government--which is not seriously being discussed as a health care reform in any way. The reforms being discussed right now would create a hybrid system with an option between public and private health insurance plans. If you chose the public health insurance plan, your insurance would be provided by the government, not the health care provider.

The Jargon

Universal Health Care:

A system that ensures health care coverage for all eligible residents in the country. There are many methods of implementing and paying for the program, including a single-payer system or a national public insurance plan.

Single-Payer System:

This term refers to a system that has one source of money (usually the federal government) that pays for all health care costs. It could cut down on administrative costs by reducing billing and paperwork that is usually required when a system has hundreds of insurance companies or "payers" like we currently do.

Private Health Insurance Plan:

The current system generally runs on individuals purchasing health insurance from private companies. As with any other private company, profit is a priority rather than necessarily providing good health insurance coverage to their customers.

Public Health Insurance Plan:

This is a health insurance plan that can be purchased through the government, rather than through a private insurance company. It is believed that this will be a more affordable health insurance option compared to private plans because the goal will be to keep customers healthy rather than make a profit.

Pre-Existing Condition:

This term refers to a health condition that you may have had before you obtained health insurance. Private health insurance companies often use this as a way to either deny coverage or to not pay for your medical bills.

Cost Controls: