The healthcare “crisis” is the main “news” we are hearing about now, and have heard about for decades. I just received my “personal” email from BO on this subject. But is the premise that there is a crisis correct and accurate? I don’t think so. One of the major underlying premises of this “crisis” is that there are a large number of Americans that do not have healthcare insurance coverage and/or access to medical care. The estimated numbers of the uninsured are all over the board but the favorite one cited by the career politicians and the state-controlled media is 47 million. So let’s use their number.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were an estimated 304 million people in the country as of July 2008. Assuming that the 47 million uninsured is correct, that means that roughly 15% of our citizens are uninsured. Let me ask you this. If you have a leak in your home’s roof, do you fix the roof or demolish the home and start afresh? Again, assuming that the numbers above are correct, it seems nonsensical to demolish the best healthcare system in the world when we could just fix the uninsured problem in other ways such as providing vouchers to low income families, etc. But no, the White House and Congress think it is best to rush through a draconian plan to control your medical treatment access. Why is that? My guess is the rush is to do it before you find out how bad this idea really is….
Now, let’s take a closer look at the estimated numbers of uninsured. Let’s review Census data contained in Table 6 which is titled “People without Health Insurance Coverage by Selected Characteristics: 2006 and 2007”.
www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/hlthin07/p60no235_table6.pdf
According to the Census Bureau there were 45,657,000 uninsured people in the country in 2008. However, there were 9,737,000 people in that number that were “non-citizens”. Presuming that we all agree that we do not want to provide tax-funded healthcare to this sub-group of people, the number of uninsured is down to 39,920,000 which represent roughly 13% of the 2008 population.
Age and Income information is also listed in this table. The number of people between the ages of 18 to 24 is 7,991,000. This group of folks believes they do not need healthcare due to their age. Now, I am sure that there are a number of non-citizens in this number so for arguments sake, let’s just use 70% of them as US citizens for this analysis. That changes the estimated number of uninsured to around 30,326,000.
As to income, there are 9,115,000 that make $75,000 or more. These people can afford some basic health or medical insurance but apparently choose not to buy any. If we include only 70% of those that earn this level of income in our analysis, then the estimated number of uninsured is further reduced to 23,946,000 or roughly 8% of our total population.
I think that the 24 million I cited above is also an exaggerated number as many of those considered “uninsured” are simply between jobs. Now that we have looked at the numbers more closely, I think it is plain that this “crisis” is being created by the politicians and their allies in the media. Let’s focus on addressing the relatively small number of uninsured in a common sense fashion…
There is no doubt that our system can be improved, but I do not think that the legislation that is working its way through congress is the answer. Why not consider some other alternatives such as;
1) Eliminating government mandates on what type of coverage can be sold. Many states have policies that their state assemblies have packed with coverage that all people do not need. For example, many policies now have to provide for payment of services in regards to pregnancy. My wife and I do not need this coverage yet it is included in the group policy we pay for and cannot be deleted for a premium savings. Give the citizen more freedom of choice in purchasing just the coverage that they need and want.
2) Expand the use of Health Savings Accounts in conjunction with offering policies that cover only major illness and extended hospitalization. Let the citizen pay for routine visits and procedures out of pocket.
3) As long as we are stuck with this horrible income tax code, provide for the tax deductibility of premiums citizens pay for individual and family policies that they buy direct from a health insurance company. Then for those that are not offered insurance from an employer they get the same tax break as a company in buying health coverage.
4) For those with chronic illness and pre-existing conditions, form state run high risks pools. If premiums are not affordable, then maybe this is an area that can be addressed by a government assistance program.
There are many options that the political class and elites in the country are ignoring in their rush to pass a bill that will reduce our freedoms, harm our economy, increase taxes and degrade the quality of the healthcare we now receive. Below are some pertinent links on this topic of current news and opinion for your information. We have a short reprieve here in August to prevent the government from passing legislation that will be impossible to repeal once enacted, because entitlements never are…
CBO deals new blow to health plan
www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25415.html
Senior Citizens Left Off Government’s Swine-Flu Vaccination Priority Listwww.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51854
Dems win approval of health bill in committee
www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99PPHV80&show_article=1
House Democrats reach deal on healthcare bill
www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56S4YO20090729?
feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Reparations By Way Of Health Care Reform
www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=483402
Mr. President, what's the rush?
blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/07/mr-president-whats-the-rush.html
AP Sources: Senate group omitting Dem health goals
apnews.myway.com/article/20090727/D99N33S81.html
Blue Dogs: Healthcare Our Way Still Possible
www.newsmax.com/newsfront/blue_dogs_healthcare_bill/2009/07/28/240943.html
No healthcare reform vote before autumn: Obama
www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.830beb0d4e1b839b7394c48af39ed809.291&show_article=1
Perry raises possibility of states' rights showdown with White House over healthcare
www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1504240.html
Poll: Obama loses ground on health care
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32206998/ns/politics-white_house/
'They May Not Know What's Good for Them'
www.thefoxnation.com/media/2009/07/31/they-may-not-know-whats-good-them
Until next time, take care. Stay aware and engaged as this government will enslave us if it can. Let your elected officials know where you stand on this issue. WE NEED AND DEMAND FREE MARKET SOLUTIONS, NOT MORE GOVERNMENT GENERATED PROBLEMS!
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