On the 47 million people without health insurance point, that too is a statistic where there is less than meets the eye. First, health insurance does not equal health care (there are not just emergency rooms but cash-based clinics, and conversely, a lot of people with insurance don't get good health care). Second, of that 47 million, 14 million are already eligible for existing programs (Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' benefits, SCHIP) yet have not enrolled, 9.7 million are not citizens, 9.1 million have household incomes over $75,000 and could but choose not to purchase insurance, and somewhere between 3 and 5 million are uninsured briefly(<2 months) between jobs. That leaves about 10 million Americans who are chronically without insurance. Needless to say, extending the blanket of coverage to this group should not cost $1.5 trillion and require a wholesale overhaul of all of medicine.
—Dr. Bala Ambati
Estimates vary, but 10 million is in the ballpark.
One point I'd make here is that the "temporarily between jobs and uninsured" is a troubling figure by itself. Restricting mobility for workers is a problem. I fell less inclined to go out and get a new, possibly better job because I'd have to go without insurance for a while. That's stifling to some degree economically.
ReplyDeleteSure, it's a problem, but of a different sort. My preferred solution would be to dismantle the employer-based system, compensate employees with commensurately higher wages, and have everyone buy on a health exchange. Wyden-Bennett's plan is the closest thing I've seen to this.
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