--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Ruth wrote: > > It isn't like people are going to lose their will > > to work if they get health care paid for by tax > > dollars. > > > They might if they don't need any health care or if > they are forced to buy government health care when they > don't need it. Why should young people be forced to pay > for the health care of older people? It doesn't make > any sense. It's a crazy ponzi scheme just like Social > Security. > > "There is an analogy between the compulsory aspects of > the candidates' health care proposals and Social Security. > A young man or woman would be crazy to participate in the > Social Security system if he or she had any choice. If > anyone saved 12.4% of his earnings over a lifetime, he > would not only have far more money in retirement than > Social Security can provide, it would, equally important, > be his money, to invest and dispose of as he sees fit. > But the government needs young people's money to support > their grandparents' retirements, so Social Security is > forced upon them. The same thing, in essence, will happen > with health care if any comprehensive "reform" plan is > adopted." >
I can't answer you in a sound bite, but . . . . So, you would rather have 47 million people uninsured? And it isn't the old people that are uninsured, it a mix of people. For example, young people with jobs that don't offer insurance or the insurance costs too much. They feel bullet proof and go without. Some will have accidents. Some will get cancer. They are screwed. Some will get treated anyway, but because they are judgment proof the health care providers eat the cost and pass it along to everyone else. The problem is that people can't say they don't need health insurance because they are healthy. Health is not something that is a matter of personal control. Sure you can live a healthy life, but you still can get cancer, be born with diabetes or other chronic illness, or have an accident. I personally have seen far too many of those young healthy people who suddenly are not healthy any more and cannot get health insurance at any price. The fastest growing demographic of uninsured are families making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year. In large part, the reason for this growth is that small employers (with less than 100 employees) are less and less frequently offering health insurance. Here are some numbers for ya: 1.The number of uninsured is increasing. Current Census estimates show that, in 2005, 44.8 million people, 15.3 percent of the population, were without health insurance. (This is a drop from earlier Census estimates of 46 million however, recent estimate are showing about 47 million.) The Census only counted people who were uninsured for at least an entire year. 2. A 2004 study from Families USA found that 81.8 million lacked health insurance at some point in 2002 and 2003 and most were uninsured for more than 9 months. Adding to these numbers, the Commonwealth Fund has found 16 million adults were under-insured in 2003. 3. About 20% of the uninsured are children according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation found that about 70% of those children would be eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid, but parents often are unaware of the eligibility or daunted by the paperwork. There is no one out there advertising these programs. 4. Medicaid is administered by the states. States divide low income people into three groups: children, parents of children, and non-parent adults. In 40 of 50 states non-parent adults are not eligible for Medicaid at all, even if they do not have a penny to their name, unless they are fully and completely disabled. The remaining 10 states provide some coverage but it is very limited. Look at the Kaiser Family Foundation website, it reports a lot of this information about Medicaid. 5. In 14 states, more than 1/3 of non-elderly people had no health insurance for all or part of 2002 and 2003. Texas and California were the worst. 6. The National Academy of Sciences has found that lack of insurance causes about 18,000 unnecessary deaths a year. About 1400 is from undiagnosed high blood pressure. Chronic diseases and cancer do not get treated in the emergency room. Here is an interesting article on Houston's problem with one million uninsured and the inability for many to get treatment for cancer: http://www.click2houston.com/investi...14/detail.html <http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/10935214/detail.html> 7. From the 2004 Census, it appears that families with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 is the fastest growing group of uninsured. Also, from the Kaiser 2005 employer health benefits survey, the percentage of employers offering insurance has decreased every year for the past six years, almost entirely in the small group market, with 40% of employers not offering any health insurance. Interestingly, 98% of employers which have 200+ employees offer health insurance.
