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By Angela Generoso, Online Managing Editor

I am a 24-year-old college student with no health insurance, but I try to convince myself I don't need it.

Like many other college students I seek refuge in the Student Health Center, San Francisco City Clinic, and my personal favorite: Planned Parenthood.

I do what I can with over-the-counter medications, and hope that whatever I have will just go away.

But according to an article in SFGate.com, more than 16 million Americans are on individual health plans as opposed to company sponsored plans. The story goes on to state even reasonably healthy people have problems getting affordable insurance premiums.

These health plans are going up, and people are paying higher deductibles for fewer services.

So if healthy people with money in this country can't get a decent health plan, I probably will be "pretending" I don't need health insurance for a long, long time.

Through my quest to deny the necessity of health coverage, I have spent countless hours at San Francisco General Hospital, where the hopeless and impoverished can seek help, and where the wait to be seen is most definitely longer than waiting at the DMV.

My initial shock after walking into the waiting room was the amount of angry people waiting miserably in a variety of lines that wrapped around the entire room. These people, like me, were all clutching desperately to the number they held in their hands, waiting to be called.

At first I just stood there, hardening my face to fit in with the rest. But when the old man hunched over the pay phone was moaning about ticks on his face, my skin started to crawl.

In the center of all the anger, frustration and sadness, an old homeless woman with a smile on her face and a radio in her hand started dancing around, singing loudly along to the music. This, of course, caused an uproar among the others, as they started yelling for her to be quiet.

The first time I experienced the waiting area I immediately wanted to turn around and leave. I wanted to go back in time about ten years when being sick meant my mom was going to take me to the doctor and I got to miss school for a day.

But I stood there and I waited, telling myself that when I graduate I will have an awesome job with impeccible benefits.

However, this dream seems farther away than ever, and overall I don't really mind pretending.