September 7, 2009

FYI : The Truth About "46 Million Uninsured"

From the CATO Institute:

"For the record, according to the latest figures from the Census Bureau, 45.6 million Americans currently lack health insurance. This is actually down slightly from the 47 million that were uninsured in 2006. However, those numbers don’t tell the whole story.

For example, roughly one quarter of those counted as uninsured — 12 million people — are eligible for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), but haven’t enrolled. This includes 64 percent of all uninsured children, and 29 percent of parents with children. Since these people would be enrolled in those programs automatically if they went to the hospital for care, calling them uninsured is really a smokescreen.

Another 10 million uninsured “Americans” are, at least technically, not Americans. Approximately 5.6 million are illegal immigrants, and another 4.4 million are legal immigrants but not citizens.

Nor are the uninsured necessarily poor. A new study by June O'Neill, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, found that 43 percent of the uninsured have incomes higher than 250 percent of the poverty level ($55,125 for a family of four). And slightly more than a third have incomes in excess of $66,000. A second study, by Mark Pauly of the University of Pennsylvania and Kate Bundorf of Stanford, concluded that nearly three-quarters of the uninsured could afford coverage but chose not to purchase it. "


The actual bottom line number of people who cannot afford to buy insurance amounts to 14 million, not 46 million. (Hot Air.com)


3 comments:

savvycityfarmer said...

leave it to the media to blow it all out of proportion, like they do everything else.
maybe we can ichat later today
...would love be with you both on picnic point...what a day!

Parisienne Farmgirl said...

liars, liars, pants on fire...

Did you hear the news - Van Jones is outta there. Sorry but, that made me laugh!

Victoria said...

Unfortunately, Van Jones is out of the office but not out of his role. He'll be working with others in Washington D.C., just flying under the radar now.

Not sure which is worse?

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