It has been reported, and the President just repeated it, that there are 47 million people in the United States who are uninsured.
But I am trying to verify that number and here’s a breakdown given in Business and Media.org that breaks it down like this:
- 10 million not citizens
- 8.3 million uninsured people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and
- 8.74 million who make more than 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.
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.
This is a prime example of why people DO NOT believe what they are being told by this administration about the reform of health care/health insurance reform. The term has changed from care to insurance during the last month. And so that begs to question, instead of a complete overhaul of the system, why not find a way to cover these 8 to 13 million uninsured Americans?
Posted: 08.11.09
