People Who Won’t Get Their Own Health Ins. Hoping You’ll Be Forced To Subsidize It For Them Soon

On a related note, hungry husbands around the nation are hoping their wives come home to make them something to eat soon too.

NEWARK, Ohio (Reuters) – As debate rages on how to reform the U.S. healthcare system, many of the one in six Americans now without medical insurance are hoping that reform brings at least one thing — affordable coverage. …
…46 million Americans — in a population of 300 million — without health insurance. Reforming the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry, including affordable coverage for the uninsured, is a top priority for President Barack Obama and a major test for his young presidency.

First, there’s that much-cited “tens of millions of Americans without insurance” line again. This time it’s 46 million. Sometimes it’s more, like 50 million. Sometimes it’s less, like Obama citing a 30 million figure during his address to a joint session of Congress the other night. And that’s the problem with that statistic. It’s so vague, so full of holes (did you know that if you went without insurance for even 1 day during a year you’re part of the number?) that it’s essentially worthless.
But second, and most importantly, it baffles me how people sit around waiting for government to bring them health care. Why is that the solution? Instead of asking how the government can give people health care, why not ask how we can empower individuals to be able to afford their own health care?
Which could include stopping the government from doing things (insurance mandates, restricting interstate sale of health insurance, subsidizing employer-based health insurance, etc.) that make health insurance so unaffordable.
Of course, that would mean that the politicians would have to give up some of their power instead of accumulating more of it. And they just can’t have that.