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Lawrence city commissioners should increase the age limit for youths to be eligible for free access to recreation facilities from 17 to 26, aligning with the age that youth are eligible to remain on their parents’ health insurance.
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Access to our community’s recreation facilities supports both the physical and mental health of youth and the very presence of youth in our facilities will be a marker of a healthy community at large.
There is ample research that shows that youth brain development continues beyond the arbitrary legal transition that happens at age 18. And indeed, one universally celebrated change brought about by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was improving young adult access to health care by allowing youth to stay insured by their parents until age 26.
In a time when the affordability of health insurance through the ACA has been eliminated for many young adults by the federal government, allowing our community’s 18- to 26-year-olds free access to recreation facilities is a doable contribution toward their health and wellness.
Our community is full of families and individuals who have had to figure out how to pay unaffordable rates or go without health insurance as of Jan. 1, and many will lose free access to community recreation centers as well. Additionally, our community has many high school seniors who are already 18 and will be denied access to our recreation centers as of next month.
I urge Lawrence city commissioners to consider immediately extending the youth age limit for free access to recreation facilities to 26, because a community that neglects its youth has no future.
— Irene Ratzlaff Soderstrom (she/her), Lawrence
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