Another population that’s finding solace in the expansion of state health insurance: the young and under-employed.

I recently met Tyler Gorman, a 22-year-old punk rocker vegan who lives in a group house on Route 9 with four other guys. He’s quiet and polite — rail thin, with long brown hair. To support himself, he babysits for a family in Northampon, and does odd jobs for them — including working on their house renovation. His wages vary, but he tends to make $600 to $800 a month.

When I first met him, he was in a real bind. He had been buying his own health insurance for almost a year, in order to comply with Massachusetts’ individual mandate. (Previously, he was going to school at Hampshire College.) His barbe-bones health plan cost about $200 a month. Not only was that was a hefty sum from his monthly income, but it didn’t serve him too well. First, he couldn’t find a primary doctor on his plan who was taking new patients. So on two occasions, he had health problems that required him to go to the Emergency Room. His plan’s deductible was so high, that he was then charged $750 per visit. That came to almost as much as his monthly salary — and he was still paying for the health plan. When he woke up one day feeling dizzy and disoriented, he managed to find a walk-in clinic willing to see him for less money than the ER. The nurse who examined him told him that he was most likely undernourished — and in fact, he admitted that he hadn’t been eating much, because he couldn’t afford to after the cost of his health insurance.

He learned from his twenty-something housemates that he would likely be eligible for Commonwealth Care (as they were) — something he hadn’t heard of before. But when he applied, he was told that he would NOT qualify, for the simple reason that he was NOT uninsured. The health plan he was starving himself to pay for essentially disqualified him from the state’s program. He called the office to explain that the only reason he wasn’t uninsured, was that he had took out a health plan to comply with the law. He kept getting different responses from different people answering the phone at the Connector Board, until one person told him that if he went OFF his private insurance for two months, he’d be eligible for Comm Care. So that’s what he did.

I caught up with him again about 6 weeks later. By then, he had received notice that he would be getting Commonwealth Care. But he did not yet have the card. Still, he’s feeling much more relaxed knowing he won’t be paying $200 a month, and he will be getting decent care. Is he eating any better, I asked? Somewhat….but he also admitted that he’s just bought a van to carry around his band equipment, and the car insurance is almost as much as his health insurance used to cost……