There are approximately 300 million people in the U.S., and,many of us have all kinds of health insurance and excellent health care through providers on our plans,and,many of us are happy with what we have. So,where does the statistic of 45 million Americans without health insurance coverage come from?
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Well, there aren't 45 million AMERICANS without health insurance. It's roughly 42,000,000, and HALF of them are here illegally - so not Americans. So, you're looking at 21,000,000 AMERICANS and legal residents, without healht insurance. Roughly half of THEM, are the very healthy 20-30 year olds, who are taking a chance, have access to coverage through work, but decline to take it because they want the extra $150 a month instead. The other half, are what happens when something happens to the first half - you're not healthy any more, and now no one will insure you. The STATISTICS come from the US Census Bureau - but it's misquoted, because it's not just AMERICANS.
2 :
~~These are people who have lost their jobs and aren't eligible for private health insurance because of not being able to afford the premiums, or have preexisting conditions. Then you are assuming that everyone has great coverage. Truth is millions of Americans do have coverage, but the premiums are very high and the coverage very low because of high deductibles. This is why the government wants to cover all people with a public health care option. It leaves others who have great insurance free to keep it, but still covers the ones who have unaffordable health insurance or none at all. When 80 percent of bankruptcies are because of medical bills, I think it tells the whole story. No one seems to realize right now we are paying for uninsured through taxes and higher insurance cost anyway. It's also the reason that most companies resort to out of country business because they don't have to cover our high healthcare to those employees.~~
3 :
The short answer is that the US census does, in their report "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage" you can read the full report here. http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf But you have to love people like mbrcatz who take a number from one source and then subtract a number from a different source because "hey that suits my arguement, I'll use it" Sorry, but you can't take an apple away from two oranges to get a bannana. 1) The last US census report shows that 45.657 million people had no health insurance. 2) The 21 million 'illegals' figure quoted by Mbrcatz doesn't come from the US census (most likely it's a Bear Sterns report, but who knows). 3) The US census figures say the number of of those who were 'not a citizen' (which includes 'illegals') is 10,231,000 (table 6 of the report). Now it doesn't matter which is right or wrong (10m or 21m) you can't subtract a different sub-category estimate from 1 source away from a total-category estimate in another. If the 21m is right then the uninsured number is actually 11m (21m-10m) higher at about 56m. Either way you get an 'unisured citizen' number of about 35,000,000. For pity's sake the report even states that over 34m of the 46m total were 'native born'...how can someone 'native born' be an immigrant, illegal or otherwise. I hate the specious use of statistics (which are usually from some nutty fundamentalist website) to prove a political point. As the other answer rightly says this does not include people who are 'underinsured' or have really poor coverage. So that total of 34m Americans is almost certainly understating the problem, In fairness there will also be people who could easily afford (and get) heath cover and for whatever reason just don't buy it. Whether they should be regarded as 'uninsured' is doubtful, but so is the chance that they will out weigh those who want it but can't get/afford it.
4 :
It comes from those of us without insurance. The company I work for pays close to nothing into the insurance plan, so it would end up costing me around $275 extra out of every paycheck, and since I'm a recent graduate, I can't afford that. I don't get paid enough to even consider it. Finding a decent job is hard enough in this economy. I'm just thankful that I'm a healthy person, and I don't need any medications or regular doctors visits, otherwise I'd be flat broke. It's cheaper for me to pay out of pocket if anything comes up. Hopefully nothing major ever happens to me! I think you'd be surprised at how many people don't have any health insurance. It's pretty common.
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