Americans without health insurance: young, rich and foreign
Everybody is shocked by the fact that over 15% of Americans do not have health insurance. In a system that supposedly relies on private insurance as the only door to healthcare, that more than one in seven is uninsured is a disgrace. Right?
But who are these uninsured? The poor? The old? American citizens? Don’t you believe it.
Hat-tip to Steve Bettison over at the Adam Smith Institute blog for analysing the US Census Bureau’s Income, Poverty and Health Insurance statistics.
Of the 45,667,000 people in the United States of America that do not have private health insurance:
• 9,737,000 are not US citizens. In addition,
• 32,118,000 live in households with an annual income of over $25,000, of whom
• 17,503,000 live in households with an annual income of over $50,000, of whom
• 9,115,000 live in households with an annual income of over $75,000.
• Only 686,000 are over the age of 65.
• 18,320,000 are aged between 18 and 35.
It is important to note that those six groups are not exclusive, of course. It is possible to fall into five of the six categories. But that still means that the number of poor old Americans who lack healthcare is significantly less than is often suggested.
Now I am not suggesting that foreigners do not deserve healthcare, but it does slightly cloud the picture of poor Americans being denied healthcare. Neither am I suggesting that it is easy to find the money for health insurance from a household income of $25,000 a year, though it is not easy for taxpayers on low incomes in the UK to afford healthcare either. It is the case that young people are notoriously bad at choosing to insure themselves and prepare for their futures.
The point is that the oft-cited raw figures about the uninsured in America mask a very heterogeneous group, many of whom are well able to afford insurance, and many more of whom are making rational choices not to. Whatever the arguments for and against various healthcare systems in the US, it is worth bearing these facts in mind.
August 19th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I, for one, would just like to point out the difference between Tom’s medical professional and my “medical professional”. I think it says it all really!! : )
August 20th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Hmmm….I’d rather spend an evening with the latter, but might trust the former more on technical clinical diagnosis….
August 20th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Well, what do we expect when young newly independent people and households are trying to build a life for themselves and the government is still taking four months’ worth of their earnings off them.