photo: Lisa Yarost/ BY

By Emily Beaver

As most of us were sitting down in front of our TVs to watch the Super Bowl last weekend, President Obama announced he would hold a televised health care reform summit on February 25. The summit is aimed at bringing Democrats and Republicans back to the table to talk about health care reform. Reform has stalled since Democrats lost a Senate seat in January.

If you haven't been paying attention, it's worth tuning back into the health care debate. What Congress decides to do -- or not do -- about health care will have a big affect on young adults, who are more likely to be uninsured than any other age group.

Aaron Smith, a Georgetown University law student and one of the founders of Young Invincibles, the youth advocacy group that's worked to get young people involved in the health care reform debate, says it's been challenging to keep young people engaged during the long debate. Smith says he thinks young people are looking for a signal that Congress is going to move forward with reform.

Krisja Hendricks, a 28-year-old New Yorker, says she hopes members of Congress will be able to "put politics aside and focus on helping people get affordable health insurance."

Hendricks, who has struggled to get health insurance after suffering chronic illnesses, has been speaking out about health care reform since Rock the Vote asked its members to submit personal stories about health care last year. In October, she spoke in support of extending dependent health insurance coverage--the length of time young adults can stay insured under their parents' health plans--at a press conference held by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Hendricks was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 22, when she was a senior in college. At the time, she was covered by her father's health insurance plan. But a few months after graduating, she was dropped from the insurance plan. Months later, she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Hendricks doesn't get insurance through her job as a waitress. And with pre-existing conditions, finding affordable health insurance has been nearly impossible. She spent years uninsured, getting basic health care from clinics and skipping important post-cancer tests and screenings.

Even after finding an affordable health insurance plan recently, Hendricks still has to fight some battles. While she was in the hospital being treated for complications related to Crohn's disease in December, her health insurer sent her a letter saying the company was going out of business and canceling her policy. As result, she stayed in the hospital for six days while she was unknowingly uninsured.

Monique Luse, a 28-year-old Georgetown University law student, has also struggled with chronic health problems - she has hypertension and Sjogren's syndrome. To maintain her health, she needs to visit her doctors regularly and take medications, which are expensive without insurance.

Luse has student insurance now, but she has had gaps in insurance coverage between graduating from college and starting her first job, and when she changed from her first to her second job. During those times, she visited low-cost health clinics and paid out-of-pocket for her medications, which cost about $500 a month.

For a while, Luse was afraid of losing her insurance after she graduates from law school this spring. She feels fortunate to have earned a fellowship at an advocacy organization that will begin this fall and will offer health benefits. But she knows that not all of her classmates will be as lucky.

She says she is disheartened by the suggestion that health care reform can wait.

"It's dismissive," she says. "It can't wait."