Uninsured Americans 47 Million: Fact or Fiction?
Source: Business & Media Institute
President Bush, Presidential candidates, governors and members of both parties repeat the same old story, that 47 million Americans are uninsured. The media repeat the numbers without question. We here them thrown around so much that most of us buy into it as fact, without knowing what is behind the underlying data.
The figures come from the Census Bureau report: "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005" (pdf). It puts the initial number people living in the United States that are uninsured at 46.577 million. Yet much of these statistics are not static because other government statistics show that 45 percent of these are job transients and will have insurance again within 4 months.
According to the Business & Media Institute there is a lot more behind the numbers that isn't all that it seems, even if we disregard the short-term job transients in the uninsured numbers.
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. ...
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. ...
Subtracting non-citizens and those who can afford their own insurance but choose not to purchase it, about 20 million people are left – less than 7 percent of the population.
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. ...
Subtracting non-citizens and those who can afford their own insurance but choose not to purchase it, about 20 million people are left – less than 7 percent of the population.
Other reports take into consideration job transients and the like and produce much lower numbers.
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. That is a much smaller figure than the media report.
Kaiser’s 8.2 million figure for the chronically uninsured only includes those uninsured for two years or more. It is also worth noting, that, 45 percent of uninsured people will be uninsured for less than four months according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Kaiser’s 8.2 million figure for the chronically uninsured only includes those uninsured for two years or more. It is also worth noting, that, 45 percent of uninsured people will be uninsured for less than four months according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The national health care cause is furthered because politicians, the media and the rest of us don't question these figures. As my grandma used to say: "Figures don't lie, but liars figure."