Friday, September 11, 2009

What is the real Health Care Crisis?

We've heard the numbers thrown around. 50 million. 47 million. Last time Obama talked, he said 30 million.
I found a good article that breaks down the actual numbers (click on title to link to full article).

"A closer look at that report reveals the Census data include 9.487 million people who are “not a citizen.” Subtracting the 10 million non-Americans, the number of uninsured Americans falls to roughly 37 million."
"Many of the same people pushing the incorrect numbers of uninsured Americans also claim that these people cannot “afford” insurance."
"But according to the same Census report, there are 8.3 million uninsured people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and 8.74 million who make more than $75,000 a year. That’s roughly 17 million people who ought to be able to “afford” health insurance because they make substantially more than the median household income of $46,326."

"So what is the true extent of the uninsured “crisis?” The Kaiser Family Foundation, a liberal non-profit frequently quoted by the media, puts the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 13.9 million and 8.2 million."

So ultimately we're talking about roughly 10 million. And how many of those are uninsured for 6 months, say between jobs?
That being said, I have no problem coming up with a solution to help those in need. But do we need over 1,000 pages of bureaucracy? And do we need to continue to lie about how many are uninsured and can't afford it? Let's put away the "guilt" that the democrats love and try to solve a problem that leaves roughly 10 million Americans uninsured.

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