Who Are The Uninsured?

Yesterday’s Power Line posted an article breaking down the numbers of who the people who do not have health insurance are.  President Obama cites the number of unemployed as nearly 46 million Americans.  Power Line has the breakdown of who these people are.   About 6.5 million are enrolled in Medicaid or S-CHIP but didn’t tell the census taker.  (Why is the census taker asking about health insurance?)  There are about 4.5 million people who are eligible for Medicaid or S-CHIP but have not enrolled.  There are about 9.5 million non-citizens who do not have health insurance (they still manage to get care through emergency rooms, etc.)  There are another 10 million who earn an income more than three times the poverty line, but choose not to be insured. The actual number remaining is about 15.5 million (one-third of Obama’s 46 million) who actually are
uninsured, cannot become insured simply by enrolling in a free program,
are U.S. citizens, and cannot easily afford to purchase insurance.
About 5 million members of this cohort are childless adults.

The article points out:

“And keep in mind that being uninsured is not the same as having to pay
(or pay much) for treatment. I’ve heard illegal immigrants say that
they find ways to receive free or inexpensive treatment for themselves
and their children. In general, I’ve read (though I can’t find the
source) that the uninsured receive about half the amount of money per
capita to pay for medical treatment that the insured receive.”

The currently proposed legislation is basically unfair.  The article further states:

“One of the purposes of most health care “reform” proposals, stated or
unstated, is to force these young people into the system–to force
them, that is, to contribute money to pay the medical bills of others,
beyond what they already pay in Medicare taxes. Whatever you think of
either the justice or the wisdom of such a policy, it is not worth
turning our health care system upside down in order to achieve.”

President Obama is on a path that will pit young workers against retirees in the area of healthcare.  Younger workers who have chosen not to be insured will now be forced into insurance and insurance payments that they do not want.  You will eventually have class warfare between the young and the elderly.