So I'm supposed to be writing about candidates and their health care plans. As often happens in the last year before a Presidential election, reporters and bloggers have fallen into a rut.

Don't fault us for it - it's a well established pattern. When candidates show signs of burnout, as evidenced by boring speeches and attacks on personal integrity rather than a laser focus on issues, reporters who've been covering the political beat also reveal signs of strain.

Writers are spending astronomical word counts analyzing candidates' specific plans. Worse, we're morphing into behavioral psychologists, analyzing every word and gesture. We're at the point now where we'll see cracks along the fault lines of coverage.

So I could analyze the candidates' plans, sure, or I could talk about why Hillary, Obama, and John (listed in no particular order) should be using the healthcare crisis to engage young voters.

Let's get back to what's important to Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennial voters this year:

1.       War in Iraq

2.       Health care (or lack thereof)

3.       The economy

Reporters are commenting that in health care, as in other sectors, we are expecting our government to save us. We want politicians to bail us out.

To everyone working in John, Hillary, or Obama's campaigns: think again.

Younger voters realize the government can't save health care.

Let me repeat that - the government cannot save our health care system. Acting alone, political parties cannot secure our pursuit of healthy lives, which we stumble after as brainlessly as we do life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We've also seen that consortiums meant to provide near-universal coverage cannot save healthcare - HMOs, the federal government, and employers working together to provide offerings to the employed and the unemployable have racked up a bigger bill than any of us can swallow - to the tune of 2.2 trillion dollars.

To Hillary, Obama, and McCain - younger voters get it. We can see Medicare and Social Security will not be solvent to provide an economic cushion in our later years. Politicians would do well to study the expectations and spending patterns of the "Guitar Hero Healthcare" generation.

And if you don't think we're mature enough to handle changing the health care system, what with us moving home to stay with helicopter parents for years after graduation, chew on this for a while.

We're making tough economic decisions about preventative health every day. My peers are asking some of the toughest questions in personal wellness management, including "Should I forgo purchasing health insurance coverage when I'm kicked off my parents plan? Should I go to the ER or my primary care doc for this? Should I choose this job because the employer still offers full paid coverage for dependents?"