Posted by
Kel-C on Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:02:18 AM
Whenever I hear some number thrown out in the press, I find myself compelled to investigate.
Take the number of supposed uninsured Americans -- 47 million, including nine million children. This has come up again and again during the election coverage and the call for universal healthcare. Obama pledges these people will all be covered.
But who are they?
As Dick Morris correctly points out, the 47 million number includes about 10 million illegal aliens. Obama, although he says he will cover all 47 million, also says he won't cover illegals. Not sure where he actually stands, but let's say that there are actually 37 million uninsured Americans.
Now, out of the 37 million, how many are willingly uninsured, that is, make enough money to afford it? Well, about nine million of these people make over $75,000 per year. It might be difficult at that income level to have health insurance when you have to pay for cable and an SUV and the gas for that SUV, but that's the choice made. That brings the number down to 28 million unwillingly uninsured.
In the income level of $50,000 - $74,999, there are another 8.5 million who are uninsured. While they make more than the median household income of $48,200, it might be difficult for a couple making $50,000 living in one of those tax-you-to-death cities like New York City to afford healthcare, so I will give this group the benefit of the doubt. These income levels are not adjusted for cost of living in different areas.
So we're still at 28 million. That's less than 10% of the population.
During the S-CHIP debates, many sources quoted that six million of the nine million uninsured children in this number were eligible for current CHIP programs. Six million! That's six million kids whose parents had a resource for insurance coverage but did not take advantage of it.
That's 22 million left. Who makes up this number? It includes adults in the age range of 18 - 24. Many are in college or at a first job, relatively healthy, and are uninsured by choice. This number also includes people in between jobs who will likely get coverage as soon as another job is found, which is usually an average of four months without insurance.
How many are truly in need and can't afford coverage? The Kaiser Family Foundation, a liberal non-profit organization, calls these people the chronically uninsured. They make less than $50,000, have gone without insurance for two years or more, and are not eligible for government programs. How many you ask? They estimate between 8.2 and 13.9 million -- less than 5% of the population worst case scenario.
Think about that. The Democrats want to move all 285 million Americans to a mandatory universal health care system to make sure that less than 5% of the whole has insurance. With a mandatory system, fewer employers will bother having good coverage for employees when the government will provide adequate mandatory coverage that employers have to pay for with higher taxes anyway. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The two reports I cited most are
here and
here, but there are SO many other resources that break down these numbers out there.