One of the presumptions behind calls for wider access to health insurance is that over the last ten years more and more Americans have found themselves uninsured. But it turns out that this isn’t quite true. Sure, the number of uninsured Americans is higher now than it was a decade ago but the change has a lot to do with population growth. A far better measure is the percentage without insurance, which despite fluctuations, has not changed a lot since even the early 1990s. In fact, between 2006 and 2007, the last years for which there is good data, both the number and the percentage of Americans who are uninsured went down.
Uninsured Americans
And while obviously the recession that hit the US beginning last year has worsened the picture, a Gallup poll in June 2009 put the number currently uninsured at around 16 percent of adults. That is higher than in previous years, yes, but not shockingly or dangerously so. It also represents only those uninsured at one point in time and leaves out people under 18, who tend to have a higher rate of being insured, especially with the extension this year of programs like SCHIP.
I’m hardly going to argue that “only” 14-16 percent uninsured is a reason to leave the US health care system as is. However, both honesty and well-researched information have been lacking, on all sides, of the health care debate. The myth of the rising uninsured is yet another example of this.
Uninsured Americans
And while obviously the recession that hit the US beginning last year has worsened the picture, a Gallup poll in June 2009 put the number currently uninsured at around 16 percent of adults. That is higher than in previous years, yes, but not shockingly or dangerously so. It also represents only those uninsured at one point in time and leaves out people under 18, who tend to have a higher rate of being insured, especially with the extension this year of programs like SCHIP.
I’m hardly going to argue that “only” 14-16 percent uninsured is a reason to leave the US health care system as is. However, both honesty and well-researched information have been lacking, on all sides, of the health care debate. The myth of the rising uninsured is yet another example of this.
