Re: Worse than we thought...

John Galt wrote:
"Islander" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ssqdnSBKS-Qdbm7bnZ2dnUVZ_rSinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://tinyurl.com/2uf9as

Study finds 89.6 million lacked health insurance

I'd like to see this report factoring out the illegal population. I doubt it's any coincidence that the growth of uninsured Hispanics is so much larger than other minorities, and the the states with the highest number of uninsured are those with the larged illegal population.

JG

Well, yes, that would be interesting, but would not excuse the large number of citizens who are not covered. The report breaks down the numbers by race and Hispanic origin (not to be confused with illegal aliens) as follows:

Race and Hispanic Origin Number Uninsured As Percent of All Uninsured
White, Non-Hispanic 43,463,000 48.5%
Black, Non-Hispanic 14,579,000 16.3%
Hispanic 24,806,000 27.7%
Other* 6,711,000 7.5%
Total** 89,558,000 100.0%

Illegal or not, it is not surprising to me that the number of Hispanics is high since they seem to get the worst paying jobs, usually without benefits. Note that Hispanics constitute 15% of the total population as of last year according to the US Census Bureau. Their poverty rate was 21.8%. Compare this with African Americans who constitute 13% of the population with a 24.9% poverty rate.

Bottom line is that this is not about illegal immigration. It is purely and simply about not providing effective health care to a very large number of Americans.

One-third of people in the U.S. under 65 went without coverage for some or all of the last two years, reports an advocacy group.
By Jordy Yager, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2007

WASHINGTON -- -- More than one-third of the people in the United States under the age of 65 had no health insurance for some or all of 2006 and 2007, according to a study released Thursday by Families USA, an advocacy group for the uninsured.

The 89.6 million individuals identifying themselves as lacking insurance for at least a month, according to the advocacy group, was almost double the number of uninsured reported by the Census Bureau for 2006.

"It's simply unacceptable that for lack of basic health coverage, nearly 90 million Americans had to live in fear of illness and injury in the last two years," said Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees national healthcare programs.

California had the largest number of individuals uninsured during some or all of that two-year period -- 13 million, or nearly 41% of state residents younger than 65. Texas was second, with 9.3 million. Americans older than 65 are eligible for Medicare and were not considered in the Families USA study.

More than 70% of those without insurance in part or all of 2006 and 2007 were employed full time, the report said.

Half lacked insurance for nine months or more.

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Unfortunately, the study does not include Americans over 65. One wonders what the total would be if they were included.

Full report at: http://familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/wrong-direction.pdf


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Worse than we thought...
    ... Study finds 89.6 million lacked health insurance ... I'd like to see this report factoring out the illegal population. ... the pro-universal coverage group is insure about the strength of their ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Worse than we thought...
    ... Study finds 89.6 million lacked health insurance ... I'd like to see this report factoring out the illegal population. ... the pro-universal coverage group is insure about the strength of their ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Worse than we thought...
    ... Study finds 89.6 million lacked health insurance ... I'd like to see this report factoring out the illegal population. ... the pro-universal coverage group is insure about the strength of their ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Worse than we thought...
    ... Study finds 89.6 million lacked health insurance ... I'd like to see this report factoring out the illegal population. ... the pro-universal coverage group is insure about the strength of their ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Worse than we thought...
    ... I'd like to see this report factoring out the illegal population. ... It is purely and simply about not providing effective health care to a very large number of Americans. ... this mess is the large number of 20 somethings who forgo insurance because they think they're immortal and would rather spend it on a 5 series Beamer instead of a 3. ...
    (soc.retirement)