How To Lie With Statistics: The “46 Million Uninsured” Myth
In the health care debate the favorite statistic of government health care supporters is the one which says that 46 million Americans are uninsured. But is that really accurate?
David Harsanyi points out that it’s not nearly as accurate as proponents of government health care would like you to believe. A few fun facts:
* The 46 million number is based on data from the US Census, which isn’t all that reliable. The much more reliable Congressional Budget Office puts the number at more like 31 million.
* The 46 million (or 31 million) number, whichever you choose to believe, is calculated by counting any American who is without insurance for any length of time during a given year. So if you’re without insurance for a couple of weeks while switching jobs, congratulations you’re one of the 46 million Americans who need government health care according to the liberals.
* Backing up the last fact, 45% of America’s uninsured are only without insurance for 4 months or less. Meaning that a lot of the uninsured are either between jobs, or are former dependents transitioning to their own insurance.
* Many of the uninsured already have health insurance available to them through already existing government programs. The Congressional Budget Office suggests that this number is as high as 15% of the uninsured. The Urban Institute (hardly a bastion of anti-government health care sentiment) pegs the number at 20% of the uninsured.
* And some 17.5 million of the uninsured are making $50,000/year or more. A full 9.1 million are making over $75,000/year.
When you look beyond the emotion-driven rhetoric, the sappy pictures of little poor kids whose parents can’t afford to take them to the doctor, and actually look at the numbers and the facts you see that the insurance problem in this country isn’t nearly as bad as those wanting to control your health care for you would have you believe.
