Who are the 47 million Americans who ‘don’t have health care?”

[Odd1_Out]

So 10 million out of 300 million is roughly 3% of the U.S. population. We should set up a new healthcare plan for the 3%? BTW, from the statistics I've seen 80% of the people are happy with their healthcare plan, already.

Yes, because the rest of us get sick more often because those 3% aren't properly care for.

 

[Turboswede]

Seems to me we have an immigration problem, not so much a healthcare problem.

You are right, we should all strive to provide citizenship to all US residents regardless of their current legal status, then we can tackle the healthcare issue. Looks like we agree

 

[Andrew2382]

You are right, we should all strive to provide citizenship to all US residents regardless of their current legal status, then we can tackle the healthcare issue. Looks like we agree

Wrong, we should stop providing healthcare to people who are here illegally.

I have no pity on illegal immigrants, sorry, I may be cold hearted but if you want to live here come in through the proper channels, not some tunnel under the desrt

 

[CA95380]

You are right, we should all strive to provide citizenship to all US residents regardless of their current legal status, then we can tackle the healthcare issue. Looks like we agree

Not a bad idea. Once the illegal aliens start paying taxes ... watch out for traffic jambs ... back into Mexico from all border states!

*Fix'it myself

 

[Turboswede]

Not a bad idea. Once the illegal aliens start paying taxes ... watch out for traffic jambs ... back into Mexico from all border states!

*Fix'it myself

Um...they do pay consumption taxes and payroll taxes if they are employed.

 

[editec]

I came upon this and it addresses the 47 million Americans who are constantly being referenced as being uninsured. The website name is laughable, but the numbers are sound.

Who are the 47 million Americans who ‘don’t have health care?”
August 27, 2008 — whatthecrap?

In 2006 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 46.6 million are people without health insurance.

Okay so far.

You hear this number all the time today in discussions on what our public policy should be towards health care (particularly - socialized healthcare). But who are these 46.6 million people? Here are a couple things you probably won’t hear from politicians, whether Democratic or Republican:

Who is reporting? The Census bureau?

I'd like to see this data from the census bureau's website if you don't mind.

The way this BLOG is written in very suspect.

1. 1. Of that 46.6 million, 9.5 million were not United States Citizens
   2. Another 17 million of those people live in households exceeding $50,000 and could purchase healthcare but choose to invest their money in other things.
   3. 18 million were between the age of 18-34, most in good health - and either not in need of coverage - or chose not to purchase it (that includes me for a while there). (Also, note that this stat likely overlaps with the one above as commentor Kottcamp reminded me.)
   4. 70% of the non-elderly population that become uninsured in a given year - are reinsured in less than one year.

 

[Turboswede]

To sum up for all of you spectators this is where we are now:

Left
46,000,000 people in America are uninsured and we pay 2-3 times as much for health insurance as countries that cover everyone, that is sad, we should do something about it.

Right:
9,500,000 are not US citizens so they are not our problem
17,000,000 could afford it but don’t want to pay
18,000,000 don,’ need it

Left:
17,000,000 may not be able to afford it because insurance is pricy if you have a pre existing condition or no access to group coverage

How do you know 18,000,000 people don’t need it?

Right:
Ok, the 17,000,000 may not actually be able to afford it, tough for them.

The other 18,000,000 people don’t need it because they don’t go buy it.

Left:
Wait, that doesn’t make sense, they don’t need healthcare because they don’t have insurance. That sounds like a circular argument.

Right:
They are all illegal immigrants so covering them is not our problem.

Left:
Wait, I thought we were talking about the 32,000,000 who were US Citizens according to the Right’s own article.

Right:
Nope we are kicking out of that argument and are now hanging our hat on illegal immigration because illegals don’t pay taxes.

Left:
Yes they do if they buy anything or have any wage income.

Now, in case you are curious, this is how I predict the argument will go:

Right:
But they are illegals from Mexico here to spread their love of Salsa, cars with candy finishes and Mariachi music, they are sooo un American.

Left:
That’s racist

Right:
See, to you lefties everyone is a racist

Left:
No…just racists

Right:
The constitution never provided for the freedom to drive a low-rider down Ventura boulevard while blaring that Mexican music.

Left:
Soo…Anyway…what does that have to do with universal healthcare again?

 

[CA95380]

Um...they do pay consumption taxes and payroll taxes if they are employed.

Consumption taxes ?? You mean "sales taxes" on good's purchased and used? Yes! They pay "sales tax" and "gasoline tax" .... why shouldn't they? I think most "legal" citizen's, in most states, pay those too. Dunno if Oregon still has no "sales tax"?

When Visa or Green Card Holders Must Pay U.S. Taxes

 

[Turboswede]

Consumption taxes ?? You mean "sales taxes" on good's purchased and used? Yes! They pay "sales tax" and "gasoline tax" .... why shouldn't they? I think most "legal" citizen's, in most states, pay those too. Dunno if Oregon still has no "sales tax"?

When Visa or Green Card Holders Must Pay U.S. Taxes

Yes, thats what I was saying, illegals do pay taxes.

 

[Skeptik]

Why is it that any discussion of health insurance and the soaring cost of health care always seems to come down to illegal immigrants?

Sure, we need to put an end to illegal immigration, but that isn't going to solve the health care crisis, not all by itself. We need to bring the cost down for those of us who live here legally.

 

[Chris]

Why is it that any discussion of health insurance and the soaring cost of health care always seems to come down to illegal immigrants?

Sure, we need to put an end to illegal immigration, but that isn't going to solve the health care crisis, not all by itself. We need to bring the cost down for those of us who live here legally.

Why the discussion of illegals?

Because Republicans don't want to admit that the problem is our profit driven healthcare system, not the illegals.

 

[Andrew2382]

yeah it has nothing to do with the fact that half the uninsured are illegal immigrants.

Tell me how does that sand taste chris?

 

[DiamondDave]

Yes, thats what I was saying, illegals do pay taxes.

So do tourists.. but they leave like they are supposed to

 

[rayboyusmc]

If conservatives are so compassionate, why do they have to tell US they are?

 

[rayboyusmc]

I also want to check this out further.

One blog does not make it all true.

 

[DiamondDave]

If conservatives are so compassionate, why do they have to tell US they are?

If liberals are so giving, why must they be more generous with other people's earnings, moreso than their own?

 

[Gunny]

Everyone in America can get free healthcare. It's called the emergency room. So since everyone can get free healthcare the question becomes, How do we pay for it? Do we have a bloated, expensive, and inefficient system where insurance companies, liability lawyers, and Big Pharma feast on the sick, or do we have a single payer system which has been shown to be HALF as expensive per capita? Most Republicans want to continue to pay huge premiums to bloated insurance companies because they have been brainwashed by corporate lobbyists. Meanwhile, the rest of the world laughs at us and our stupidity.

I'd much rather a moron like you decide just how much money you want to take out of my wallet without asking to fund your stupid little obsessions based on your usual illogical bullshit

 

[Skeptik]

yeah it has nothing to do with the fact that half the uninsured are illegal immigrants.

Tell me how does that sand taste chris?

Let's see... 47 million uninsured, 12 million illegals.

Nope. Even if every illegal is uninsured, the numbers just don't support your claim, and the ones who have been here for a couple of decades just might have jobs that provide health care.

 

[Angel Heart]

Consumption taxes ?? You mean "sales taxes" on good's purchased and used? Yes! They pay "sales tax" and "gasoline tax" .... why shouldn't they? I think most "legal" citizen's, in most states, pay those too. Dunno if Oregon still has no "sales tax"?

When Visa or Green Card Holders Must Pay U.S. Taxes

Oregon has no sales tax. We will continue to fight to keep it that way. Anytime a politician tries to bring it up they are voted out of office next time around.

 

[Andrew2382]

Let's see... 47 million uninsured, 12 million illegals.

Nope. Even if every illegal is uninsured, the numbers just don't support your claim, and the ones who have been here for a couple of decades just might have jobs that provide health care.

Center for Immigration Studies

34 percent of immigrants lack health insurance, compared to 13 percent of natives. Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for 71 percent of the increase in the uninsured since 1989.
Table 11 reports the percentage of immigrants and natives who were uninsured for all of 2006. (The CPS asks about health insurance in the calendar year prior to the survey.) The table shows that lack of health insurance is a significant problem for immigrants from many different countries. Overall, 33.8 percent of the foreign-born lack insurance compared to 13 percent of natives.33 Immigrants now account for 26.8 percent of all uninsured persons in the United States. This compares to their 12.6 percent of the total population. If the young (under 18) U.S.-born children of immigrants are included with their parents, the share without health insurance is 29.9 percent. The share of children who are uninsured is lower than for their parents mainly because the U.S.-born children of immigrants are eligible for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. Thus the inclusion of the U.S.-born children pulls down the rate for immigrants slightly. In total, there are 14.9 million uninsured immigrants and their young U.S.-born children in the country, accounting for 31.7 percent of all persons without health insurance. This is roughly double their share of the total population, which is 16.7 percent. Of young children (under 18) without health insurance, 38.1 percent (3.3 million) are immigrants or the young U.S.-born children of an immigrant father. Recently there has been a debate over extending SCHIP, which is a form of Medicaid, to more young children with incomes below 200 percent of poverty. Currently, 43 percent of low-income uninsured children (under 18) are immigrants or the U.S.-born children of immigrant fathers. While not generally acknowledged, immigration is at the center of the current SCHIP debate.



The low rate of insurance coverage associated with immigrants is primarily explained by their much lower levels of education. Because of the limited value of their labor in an economy that increasingly demands educated workers, many immigrants hold jobs that do not offer health insurance, and their low incomes make it very difficult for them to purchase insurance on their own. A larger uninsured population cannot help but strain the resources of those who provide services to the uninsured already here. Moreover, Americans with insurance have to pay higher premiums as healthcare providers pass along some of the costs of treating the uninsured to paying customers. Taxpayers are also affected as federal, state, and local governments struggle to provide care to the growing ranks of the uninsured. There can be no doubt that, by dramatically increasing the size of the uninsured population, our immigration policy has wide-ranging effects on the nation’s entire healthcare system.

One study found that after controlling for such factors as education, age, and race, uninsured immigrants impose somewhat lower costs than uninsured natives. However, when the authors simply compared uninsured immigrants to uninsured natives the cost differences were not statistically significant. In other words, when using the actual traits that immigrants have, the costs that uninsured immigrants create were the same as uninsured natives.34 Of course, even if there was a difference in the costs uninsured immigrants create when compared to uninsured native, it would have to be enormous to offset the fact that immigrants are two-and one-half times more likely to be uninsured than native-born Americans.


Immigration Accounts for Growth in Uninsured. According to the Census Bureau, since 1989 the population without health insurance has grown by 14.62 million and stood at 47 million in 2006. Much of this growth has been driven by immigration. To understand the impact of immigration, we can remove from the CPS immigrants who lack health insurance and arrived after 1989. In the March 2007 CPS there were 9.21 million immigrants who arrived in 1990 or later who did not have health insurance. This is equal to 62.9 percent of the growth in the uninsured population. Moreover, there were 1.12 million children born to post-1990 immigrants who also lacked insurance, meaning that new immigrants and their U.S.-born children accounted for 71 percent of the growth in the uninsured population.


Uninsured or on Medicaid The 2007 CPS shows that 17.7 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children under 18 are on Medicaid, compared to 11.9 percent of natives and their children.35 Of immigrants and their young children (under 18), 47.4 percent either have no insurance or have it provided to them through the Medicaid system compared to 25 percent for natives and their children.

Sorry not 50% when you throw in all the numbers it's around 30%, however the growth of the uninsured is caused by illegals by 71%

At that rate, 50% aint that far off