Universal Healthcare

I'm one of the 44 million uninsured Americans at the moment (relax, NJ drivers, I have auto insurance, just not health insurance) so while I wait for Congress to guarantee some basic level of universal coverage for all Americans, I welcome the recent moves to make sure that kids are universally covered in some states, as CA Gov. Schwarzenegger has recently proposed.

New Jersey itself is considering making health insurance mandatory for all its residents, similar to the Massachusetts law, but still hasn't come up with a plan for how to pay for it all.

Not that any of that really matters much for me, since I'm not a minor and I don't think the NJ legislation will pass anytime soon, but don't cry for me, NJ passed a bill last year making uninsured residents up to age 30, eligible for continued coverage under their parents' plans.

So why am I still uninsured? Through a loophole only a NJ lawmaker would think to include, the bill excluded the state health benefits plan, and those it covers (including my mother,) until Jan. 1st of this year, even though it went into effect in May of last year for everyone else. The 4 day lag -- and counting -- is now just my own laziness.

To paraphrase the great gossip queen Cindy Adams, only in New Jersey, kids, only in NJ!