From the D.C. Downsizer Dispatch comes an interesting bit of information regarding the "45 million Americans without health insurance". That number is used by the proponents of socialized medicine to advance the idea of spending a few hundred billion dollars of taxpayer money on a single-payer system boondoggle.
"The most commonly heard estimate for the number of Americans without health insurance is 45 million. That's a whopping, scary number. Alas, it is also highly misleading. John Stossel of ABC News has used research by the U.S. Census Bureau to expose the deeper truth behind this scary number. It turns out that . . .
* 37% of the un-insured live in households earning more than $50,000 a year (and 19% live in households earning more than $75,000). Can people at these income levels afford major medical insurance? Yes. Should they be subsidized by you and me? No. Subtract this group and the number of uninsured people drops to roughly 28 million.
* 20% of the un-insured are non-citizens. Should you and I pay to insure them through a top-down federal monopoly? We think not. Subtract this group and the number of un-insured people drops to roughly 19 million.
* 33% of the un-insured are already eligible for existing government programs. No new program is needed for people who are already covered by current programs. Subtract them and the number of uninsured people drops to roughly 4 million. This is much more likely to be the true size of the problem."
Remember that next time someone uses the "45 million uninsured" figure in a discussion about health care.
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