“Healthcare Nationalized” and the “uninsured”
“‘Healthcare Reform’: Of course, what is about to be considered in the House is NOT reform. It is a proposal for the federal government to TAKE CONTROL of healthcare in this nation—either immediately or ultimately.”
How many uninsured people are there in the United States? One of the major arguments advanced by the Democrats for the urgent need to change the present healthcare system is that there are approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured. However, I have never heard or seen any breakdown of who those 46 million Americans are and/or why they are uninsured. The unspoken implication seems to be that 1) these Americans can’t afford healthcare insurance and 2) they, therefore, are not receiving needed medical care. Therefore, for their benefit, we must “nationalize” the entire healthcare system.
First, using 46,000,000 as the number of uninsured Americans and 300,000,000 as the total population for the United States, that 46,000,000 represents 15.3% of the United States population. That percentage is less than the percent of adult Americans who are smokers which is now given as about 20% of the adult population. Should the entire healthcare system be nationalized to cover the 15%+ of the population who are supposedly not insured? That seems a little drastic to me. Are there other options available?
Second, as I have pointed out before, anyone basically can get medical assistance by simply walking into any emergency room in the country. Generally, emergency rooms are required by law to treat anyone who enters the building. When Senator Durbin of Illinois and other talking heads for such drastic changes in our system talk about the $2,000± hidden tax now built into our system, this process is basically what they are referring to. Since emergency rooms must treat all patients, including non-paying patients, they must recoup that loss someway. They do so by charging paying patients, most of whom have insurance, more for the services provided. What Senator Durbin and others don’t tell you is obvious—this system has resulted because of Congressional law. The services are required but they are not totally reimbursed so the paying customers cover the costs. The government created the very problem that they now claim must be fixed by nationalizing healthcare. Does that make sense to you?
Finally, how accurate and how relevant is the statement that there are 46,000,000 uninsured Americans that must be helped by government interference? The following article is from a link provided by http://www.championnews.net/. The article:
“Are There 46 Million or 6 Million Needy Uninsured Americans?
By Bill Zettler
Posted: August 6, 2009
How Many ‘Needy Uninsured’ Americans Are There? Are non-citizens Americans?
As with many issues supported by the press and progressives facts on the ground do not match the rhetoric being espoused. This is exceptionally true of the so-called Health Care debate.
The standard argument heard on TV and by politicians is this: there are 46 million uninsured Americans. We hear this statement over and over from liberals and conservatives alike. It is not true.
1) The Census Bureau collects health care information each year from all people residing in the US whether citizen or not.
What these health care statistics show is about 10 million non-citizens are included in the 46 million total, meaning the real number we see everyday from the news media and the political class should be 36 million American citizens without health care.
Now you may think non-citizens deserve equal coverage but that is a different argument than whether ‘Americans’ are uninsured. And, of course, by law they do receive free coverage via emergency rooms.
2) How Many People Are Covered But Tell The Census They Are Not—the ‘Medicaid Undercount.’
And even that 36 million number is too high because there are two other groups currently counted as uninsured by the Census Bureau that in fact are not uninsured. The first of those is called the ‘Medicaid Undercount’ and represent people who tell the Census taker they are not covered when indeed they are by one state/federal program or another. This is estimated between 6-7 million so we will be conservative and use 6 million.
This gets our ‘needy uninsured’ count to 30 million.
3) How Many People Are Eligible For Government Medical Care But Have Not Signed Up?
The second group is those eligible for federal medical care programs but who have not signed up either because they are unaware of their eligibility or just haven’t done so because they have not been sick. Although there is some disagreement on the exact numbers involved, this group represents at least 9 million and perhaps as many as 15 million of the currently counted 46 million. The Kaiser Family Foundation in a 2007 study estimated 11 million in this group. To be conservative we will use 9 million.
That gets our ‘needy uninsured’ count down to 21 million.
4) What About The 15 Million Who Can Afford Insurance But Don’t Want To Pay For It?
Analyzing the census statistics reveals millions more who are counted as part of the ‘46 million uninsured’ who do not need taxpayer funded health care. This would include 7 million of the 9.1 million households with incomes of over $75,000/yr and at least 4 million of the 8.4 million who make between $50,000 and $75,000/yr.
The largest statistical group in the Census count at 18.3 million is the 18-34 year olds. They are the healthiest and least expensive to insure (less than $50/mo for catastrophic coverage) and 70% do not have children. At least 4 million of this group can afford their own insurance.
If you can afford to pay for health insurance but make a conscious decision not to do so then you should not be counted in the 46 million.
That gets our ‘needy uninsured’ count down to 6 million.
Are There Other Federal Programs That Provide Care for The Uninsured?
The Health and Human Services Dept has a program called ‘Health Center Program’ which subsidizes 1,000’s of medical clinics throughout country. They provide complete medical care including: checkups, treatment, child-care, immunizations, dental, mental health, prescriptions, pregnancy care etc. on an ability to pay basis.
Any American citizen can go to one of these clinics. In 2007 they treated 16 million including 6 million uninsured patients, which we won’t even count in our analysis.
Six million people means about 2% of Americans (6,000,000 / 300,000,000 = .02—my addition) are ‘needy uninsured’ i.e. those without affordable health care compared to 14% without auto insurance. This may be a problem but it is not a crisis. (And as I’ve said already, anyone can walk into an emergency and they basically MUST be served whether or not they have insurance—my addition)
The true crisis is the lack of honesty and leadership in the political class and the media. (And yet we are going to allow these same people to make our medical decisions for us? IS that a definition for insanity?—my addition)
The first requirement of public policy is honest and accurate information to base the policy upon. There is a serious problem with a political system that willfully and knowingly bases public policy on false information. (It’s called governmental FRAUD! Who polices the government?—my addition) Public policy based upon false assumptions (Also known as LIES!—my addition) will certainly be failed policy and that is exactly what we have with the current health care proposals in Washington.
Bill Zettler is the owner of a computer-consulting firm in Illinois and a contributor to ChampionNews.net. Click here to read more by Mr. Zettler.
(The numbering 1-4 in the above article was done by me—my addition)
Sources: (Footnotes were not provided in the article—my addition)
Census Bureau, Current Population Survey 2007
‘Demographic Snapshot of Young Adults 18-34’, Rumbaut, et al, 2007
Congressional Budget Office testimony, Orzag 2007
‘Medicaid and The Uninsured’, 2007, Kaiser Family Foundation, ‘Explanations of the Medicaid Undercount’, Univ. MN, Davern, et al, 2007
Insurance Research Council”
Just how trustworthy is the Barack Hussein Obama Administration and the Democrats in Congress? Do you trust them with your healthcare decisions? Do you trust them with your life? “Trust me! I know what’s best for you!” says the man who supports the MURDER of unborn babies. RIGHT!?!
“‘Healthcare Reform’: Of course, what is about to be considered in the House is NOT reform. It is a proposal for the federal government to TAKE CONTROL of healthcare in this nation—either immediately or ultimately.”
How many uninsured people are there in the United States? One of the major arguments advanced by the Democrats for the urgent need to change the present healthcare system is that there are approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured. However, I have never heard or seen any breakdown of who those 46 million Americans are and/or why they are uninsured. The unspoken implication seems to be that 1) these Americans can’t afford healthcare insurance and 2) they, therefore, are not receiving needed medical care. Therefore, for their benefit, we must “nationalize” the entire healthcare system.
First, using 46,000,000 as the number of uninsured Americans and 300,000,000 as the total population for the United States, that 46,000,000 represents 15.3% of the United States population. That percentage is less than the percent of adult Americans who are smokers which is now given as about 20% of the adult population. Should the entire healthcare system be nationalized to cover the 15%+ of the population who are supposedly not insured? That seems a little drastic to me. Are there other options available?
Second, as I have pointed out before, anyone basically can get medical assistance by simply walking into any emergency room in the country. Generally, emergency rooms are required by law to treat anyone who enters the building. When Senator Durbin of Illinois and other talking heads for such drastic changes in our system talk about the $2,000± hidden tax now built into our system, this process is basically what they are referring to. Since emergency rooms must treat all patients, including non-paying patients, they must recoup that loss someway. They do so by charging paying patients, most of whom have insurance, more for the services provided. What Senator Durbin and others don’t tell you is obvious—this system has resulted because of Congressional law. The services are required but they are not totally reimbursed so the paying customers cover the costs. The government created the very problem that they now claim must be fixed by nationalizing healthcare. Does that make sense to you?
Finally, how accurate and how relevant is the statement that there are 46,000,000 uninsured Americans that must be helped by government interference? The following article is from a link provided by http://www.championnews.net/. The article:
“Are There 46 Million or 6 Million Needy Uninsured Americans?
By Bill Zettler
Posted: August 6, 2009
How Many ‘Needy Uninsured’ Americans Are There? Are non-citizens Americans?
As with many issues supported by the press and progressives facts on the ground do not match the rhetoric being espoused. This is exceptionally true of the so-called Health Care debate.
The standard argument heard on TV and by politicians is this: there are 46 million uninsured Americans. We hear this statement over and over from liberals and conservatives alike. It is not true.
1) The Census Bureau collects health care information each year from all people residing in the US whether citizen or not.
What these health care statistics show is about 10 million non-citizens are included in the 46 million total, meaning the real number we see everyday from the news media and the political class should be 36 million American citizens without health care.
Now you may think non-citizens deserve equal coverage but that is a different argument than whether ‘Americans’ are uninsured. And, of course, by law they do receive free coverage via emergency rooms.
2) How Many People Are Covered But Tell The Census They Are Not—the ‘Medicaid Undercount.’
And even that 36 million number is too high because there are two other groups currently counted as uninsured by the Census Bureau that in fact are not uninsured. The first of those is called the ‘Medicaid Undercount’ and represent people who tell the Census taker they are not covered when indeed they are by one state/federal program or another. This is estimated between 6-7 million so we will be conservative and use 6 million.
This gets our ‘needy uninsured’ count to 30 million.
3) How Many People Are Eligible For Government Medical Care But Have Not Signed Up?
The second group is those eligible for federal medical care programs but who have not signed up either because they are unaware of their eligibility or just haven’t done so because they have not been sick. Although there is some disagreement on the exact numbers involved, this group represents at least 9 million and perhaps as many as 15 million of the currently counted 46 million. The Kaiser Family Foundation in a 2007 study estimated 11 million in this group. To be conservative we will use 9 million.
That gets our ‘needy uninsured’ count down to 21 million.
4) What About The 15 Million Who Can Afford Insurance But Don’t Want To Pay For It?
Analyzing the census statistics reveals millions more who are counted as part of the ‘46 million uninsured’ who do not need taxpayer funded health care. This would include 7 million of the 9.1 million households with incomes of over $75,000/yr and at least 4 million of the 8.4 million who make between $50,000 and $75,000/yr.
The largest statistical group in the Census count at 18.3 million is the 18-34 year olds. They are the healthiest and least expensive to insure (less than $50/mo for catastrophic coverage) and 70% do not have children. At least 4 million of this group can afford their own insurance.
If you can afford to pay for health insurance but make a conscious decision not to do so then you should not be counted in the 46 million.
That gets our ‘needy uninsured’ count down to 6 million.
Are There Other Federal Programs That Provide Care for The Uninsured?
The Health and Human Services Dept has a program called ‘Health Center Program’ which subsidizes 1,000’s of medical clinics throughout country. They provide complete medical care including: checkups, treatment, child-care, immunizations, dental, mental health, prescriptions, pregnancy care etc. on an ability to pay basis.
Any American citizen can go to one of these clinics. In 2007 they treated 16 million including 6 million uninsured patients, which we won’t even count in our analysis.
Six million people means about 2% of Americans (6,000,000 / 300,000,000 = .02—my addition) are ‘needy uninsured’ i.e. those without affordable health care compared to 14% without auto insurance. This may be a problem but it is not a crisis. (And as I’ve said already, anyone can walk into an emergency and they basically MUST be served whether or not they have insurance—my addition)
The true crisis is the lack of honesty and leadership in the political class and the media. (And yet we are going to allow these same people to make our medical decisions for us? IS that a definition for insanity?—my addition)
The first requirement of public policy is honest and accurate information to base the policy upon. There is a serious problem with a political system that willfully and knowingly bases public policy on false information. (It’s called governmental FRAUD! Who polices the government?—my addition) Public policy based upon false assumptions (Also known as LIES!—my addition) will certainly be failed policy and that is exactly what we have with the current health care proposals in Washington.
Bill Zettler is the owner of a computer-consulting firm in Illinois and a contributor to ChampionNews.net. Click here to read more by Mr. Zettler.
(The numbering 1-4 in the above article was done by me—my addition)
Sources: (Footnotes were not provided in the article—my addition)
Census Bureau, Current Population Survey 2007
‘Demographic Snapshot of Young Adults 18-34’, Rumbaut, et al, 2007
Congressional Budget Office testimony, Orzag 2007
‘Medicaid and The Uninsured’, 2007, Kaiser Family Foundation, ‘Explanations of the Medicaid Undercount’, Univ. MN, Davern, et al, 2007
Insurance Research Council”
Just how trustworthy is the Barack Hussein Obama Administration and the Democrats in Congress? Do you trust them with your healthcare decisions? Do you trust them with your life? “Trust me! I know what’s best for you!” says the man who supports the MURDER of unborn babies. RIGHT!?!
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 4:25 AM
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