It is amazing how bad information is repeated so often that it becomes accepted fact.

The health care debate centers on the 45 million uninsured. But before we grind out an expensive solution we should undertsand those number more fully.

From the Wall Street Journal

What Do We Really Know About the Uninsured?
We should find out before Obama turns our health care upside-down.
By William Snyder

excerpts

Many Americans believe that the uninsured are too poor to purchase coverage and that government programs aren’t available to them. But a study published in Health Affairs in November 2006 estimated that 25% of the uninsured were in fact eligible for public coverage, and another 20% probably could afford coverage on their own. If we apply those percentages to today’s uninsured population, roughly 25 million people would need assistance in order to get health insurance.

That’s a major concern. But the notion that there are 46 million Americans who can’t get the health care they need for lack of money or public assistance is a myth.

A study published by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) in April 2000 found that, of the uninsured California residents whose household income was at least twice the poverty level, 50% (about 1.3 million) had received care in the last year for which they were charged, and another 8% had received care for which they weren’t charged. The study also found that 89% of these people were either somewhat or very satisfied with the care they received, and that only 15% went to the emergency room versus a doctor’s office or clinic when they got sick.

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