Posted on 08/15/2009 7:38:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Keith Hennessey has analyzed 20 statements made by President Obama during the town hall meeting on health care at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. You can read Hennessey's analysis at his home page.
One of the statements Hennessey examines pertains to what, for Obama and many others, is the starting point in the debate - the number of people who are uninsured.
In Portsmouth, Obama had this to say:
I don't have to explain to you that nearly 46 million Americans don't have health insurance coverage today. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, 46 million of our fellow citizens have no coverage. They are just vulnerable. If something happens, they go bankrupt, or they don't get the care they need.
Hennessey breaks this group of nearly 46 million into five categories. The first, consisting of about 6.5 million, actually is insured. According to Hennessey, they are enrolled in Medicaid or S-CHIP but didn't tell the census taker. This is called the "Medicaid undercount."
The second group, about 4.5 million, consists of people who are eligible for Medicaid or S-CHIP but have not enrolled. If they need care, the hospital or clinic generally enrolls them. In other words, they do not (as Obama claims) go bankrupt or without treatment. In any case, it would be ridiculous to overhaul our healthcare system to provide insurance to people who are already eligible for government assistance but have failed to avail themselves of it.
The third group, about 9.5 million, is comprised of non-citizens. Hennessey notes that people will disagree about what portion of this group should receive government subsidized health insurance. In my view, none should.
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 fourth group, another 10 million, earns an income more than three times the poverty line. As such, they can afford to buy medical insurance. Taxpayers should not be required to buy it for them.
This leaves 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.
It is understandable that many Americans would like to see the government do something for this group, or at least those members who are not young, childless, healthy adults with decent starter salaries who simply think it makes economic sense to assume the small risk that they will incur large medical expenses. But it is also understandable that many Americans favor targeting this group through incremental measures to assist them in purchasing insurance, rather than through a radical overhaul of our healthcare system at a massive cost.
Obama knows he needs a big number of "uninsured" to even get in the vicinity of selling what he has in mind to a skeptical public. But the big number he has selected would not get him in the vicinity if the public better understood who it consists of.
JOHN adds: Many young, single people make a perfectly rational decision not to buy health insurance. Accidents are the biggest threat to their health; car accidents are covered by automobile insurance and work-related accidents are covered by workmen's comp. The chance of a young person contracting a catastrophic disease (leukemia, say) is remote, and people aren't stupid: they know that if they contract such a disease they will be treated whether they can pay or not. And young, single people have not acquired a substantial net worth that they could lose to medical bills. This is why, when Pizza Hut made cheap health insurance available to its part-time employees a few years ago, hardly any of them chose to take advantage of it.
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.
I dont have an HDTV. Buy me one, because I “need” it.
Here’s an idea: pass a law that says you have to have a full-time job to buy a set of $2000 rims for your car, and you have to have health insurance to get a cell phone.
Health care “crisis” solved.
Why stop there —> must have health insurance to buy a home, car, auto insurance, designer duds, jewelry, iPod, computer, etc.
I been hollerin fo my big scream TV since they been doing cash fo clunkers. I wants 1080p and it better be at least 60”.
Me too. One I can hang on a wall. That would be nice.
Health and well being, it’s a government given right of life. /s
“God helps those who help themselves.” Liberals help the ones who refuse to take responsibility for their own lives.
Good old “Free Stuff”; the core value of liberal thinking.
Of course, I don’t think that businesses should be allowed to grow so big that the government is obliged to bail them out either.
The ‘uninsured’ already HAVE a medical care system!!!
And in most cases, federal AND state.
If 46 million are really uninsured, then we’re simply practicing rationing by Capitalism. Do we insure them in order to decide whether or not they should be treated in the first place? Waiting for the coffee to kick in...
>>The ‘uninsured’ already HAVE a medical care system!!!
Yeah, but it doesn’t cost enough—the taxpayers still have money left in their pockets. The goal is to clean out everyone’s pockets, and then make them come to Uncle Sugar to beg for necessities and have them distributed according to ideology. It’s a proven program that’s been a HUGE success in other socialist utopias. (At least, according to most dictators, college professors, and actors.)
I can choose to buy or not buy any of those. Health insurance is not for sale for people like me who have a pre-existing condition and are self-employed.
Add earrings, tattoos.
parsy, who dad would have kicked his *ss if he ever came home wearing earrings
I never hear mentioned the fact that the 10 million genuinely uninsured in this country are in fact “Self insured” and a great percentage of those are much better off than those of us who pay for insurance. Most of them never have major health problem and therefore save loads of money. I have been paying out of pocket for insurance for myself and my son for the last twenty some odd years and I have spent upwards of two hundred thousand dollars with no major medical issues. Wish I had been one of the ten million.
The country created this mess when they passed legislation that mandated anyone coming into the emergency room had to be treated regardless of insurance status, or ability to pay. Imagine if you were to pass similar legislation about supermarkets or restaurants. After all, isn't food and water just as necessary to life as health care? How long until every supermarket and restaurant was under water and America then had a "food shortage crisis".
As you point out, people prioritize their discretionary spending - that's why it's called discretionary. If a young urban man knew he couldn't go to the ER and get free health care, he may not be so eager to buy those $2K rims for his "whip". The same could be true of cigarettes, booze, cable television, movies and shows, CD/DVD, trips to the local casino, etc., etc., etc.
“I don’t have to explain to you that nearly 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance “
Bare-faced lie!
They (dems) want to peel off all this revenue, and allocate it as they please.
Some of it MAY go to health care, some to other “pro-grums.”
This is all about controlling a larger revenue stream by govt.
I have an idea, let’s give everybody free money.
A million here, a million there. Soon it adds up. They are all slippery digits. See below for the BS floating around.
From the debates last year
MCCAIN HITS 47 MILLION
McCain: “Well, it is a terribly painful situation for Americans. They’re seeing their premiums, their co-pays go up. Forty-seven million Americans are without health insurance in America today.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/15/debate.transcript/index.html
OBAMA AT 47 MILLION
“This is not just about the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance,” Obama said in a prepared statement at the start of his Wednesday night press conference.
http://www.cnsnews.com/Public/Content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51443
THEN OBAMA GOES TO THE 50 MILLION
Addressing the doctors in Chicago, the president said for the first time publicly that health care reform, including covering the almost 50 million Americans who have no insurance, would cost about $1 trillion over 10 years.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31366944/ns/politics-white_house/
SOME BLOGGER RAISES THE ANTE
The number of medically uninsured Americans has now risen to over 47 million, with over 75 million people going unprotected in a given two-year period.
“Why We Need More, Not Less, Government”
http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=8&p=2
AND SOMEONE ELSE SUPPORTS IT
All told, likely another five million people have pushed the ranks of the uninsured over 50 million.
...
All in all, 75 million Americans - 42% of the people in the United States under age 65- have insufficient insurance or simply none at all.
http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001574.htm
WINNER GOES TO CHELSEA CLINTON
“If you have health care and you’re not happy with it — like me who has employer provided health care, but I’m not happy with it — and if you are one of the 100 million who are uninsured at some point throughout the year... you’ll be able to buy into a Congressional health plan,” Chelsea Clinton said, according to the Politico blog.
http://dealbreaker.com/2008/02/chelsea-clinton-slams-avenue-c.php
and see bert here
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1969408/posts?page=25#25
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