As I say, young people aren't crazy. They intelligently choose not to buy health insurance because it is -- as currently inflicted on them by government regulators -- a bad bargain. Let the insurers design plans specifically geared to young people and they WILL buy them.
Young people don't buy insurance because in most states it's a bad bargain -
because insurance companies assume only sick or expensive young people buy it and price it accordingly. Individual insurance is ridiculously expensive in most states where insurance actually has value because of the adverse selection problem. If insurance were available for $250 a month when I was 22, I'd have bought it. But it was more like $1,000 when it was even available, and with high co-pays. An employer pays a fraction of that for a 22-year old employee because of their bargaining power and because requiring employment has the same effect as a mandate - it brings healthy people into the pool.