Finally, a congressman that gets it (Not in a Barney Frank way)

[comsnark]

I like what he had to say, but he was being overly conservative / pessimistic. The actual percentage of people without any form of insurance and without the ability to pay for their own insurance is considerably less than 15% of the population. Think single digit percentage. Basically, those stupid congress critters are going to screw up a pretty good system to satisfy a few million people. We could cover those few with just a small fraction of what the malpractice law firms suck out of the system. Want to see a good example of how trial lawyers ruin medical care? Look at John Edwards.

Wish I could find that stupid article.

Hmm. I did a quick google search, and I was unable to find the article you were referencing.

I see the 15% number (47million?) in a number of places. But. . .I guess you are questioning the legitimacy of the number. How many are illegals who are "out of the system". How many can pay for insurance but choose not to pay? Fair questions.

And what of the bias of the organization producing the data? That question applies to those touting a 15% number as well as one producting a 5% number.

These days. . one has to question even "hard" data. Like global warming data, you can make numbers read what you want them to read.

 

[iBoat]

Is this the article you're looking for? Breaks down the number of uninsured by category.

http://keithhennessey.com/2009/04/09/how-many-uninsured-people-need-additional-help-from-taxpayers/

BTW this site has tons of info on the health care issue.

 

[skibum]

case 1
imagine, if you will, a stone age village or ancient indian settlement, with maybe 20 families. one of the fathers has always worked hard all his life to contribute to the village wellbeing - hunting, ploughing whatever, nothing too much for him. and then he gets very sick. what do the other people do for him, his wife and his kids?

case 2
the same ancient village. one of the members has been a lazy good-for-nothing his whole life and has shirked at every opportunity while the other men worked hard. then he gets very sick. what do the other people do for him, his wife and his kid?

Years ago, churches and public charities provided assistance to these types of people. The libs don't like religious organizations, so they set up rules to prevent them from being as involved as they once were. Case in point: my church held chicken dinners for years. They would sell tickets, and volunteers would donate and cook the food (in an industrial kitchen). All of the proceeds would go precisely to help the people you mention. They would donate to food banks, organizations that helped people get medical care, clothing banks, etc.. Then, back in the late 80s, when the "freedom from religion" morons came around, they pressured the state to close the dinners down. Since we are in Maryland, one of the top 3 liberal social experimental labs, it was easy to convince them. They ended up applying the same rules that they use for restaurants to the church. Well, the costs involved with bringing a church kitchen and "dining room" (actually, just a part of an auditorium) up to commercial standards were cost prohibitive and the church stopped having their charity dinners. It wasn't until 4 or 5 years ago that one of our congregation managed to coordinate with a state senator to get legislation passed that prevented the state from enforcing the commercial restaurant rules on church charity dinners. The only rules being enforced now are the food handling / food safety rules, which the church always passed. They no longer need to comply with the other rules related to the facility, like how far the bathrooms can be from the dining area (they were too far away from the dining room, in the school (WTF??? - who wants the bathroom near the food prep or eating areas)).

Case #1 - Unless the guy was a jerk (or French), most of the other villagers would like him after working side by side with him for all of those years. They would probably treat him as a dear friend or family member and do all they could to help him and his family out in his time of need. No government involvement required.

Case #2 - As soon as word of his demise got out, we would hold a town hall meeting to start divying up his stuff. We might even take up a collection for boat passage to Spain where the wife and kid could get free food, shelter, and health care. Otherwise, we would just take them to the edge of town and put a boot to their butts.

 

[VTSeaRay]

Is this the article you're looking for? Breaks down the number of uninsured by category.

http://keithhennessey.com/2009/04/09/how-many-uninsured-people-need-additional-help-from-taxpayers/

BTW this site has tons of info on the health care issue.

Thanks, I knew it was lower than 46M, but couldn't find the breakdown. I sent this to my congressman, (after he responded to my earlier mail to him, and he was quoting the 46M #) he won't do anything, since this is the most liberal state of granolies in the country, but I let him know how I felt.

I suggested the three branches of government, the major media, congress and the president create a new welfare call it medical welfare, for the <10M uninsured and disabled, and fix the issues they see with the Insurance payment policies. It would be cheaper for everyone, then this healthcare plan.