Health Care Myths: Part One

At a time when there is an ongoing debate about health care, it is essential that we have the right facts. One book that is helpful in this debate is Sally Pipe’s, The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care. It shatters much of the conventional wisdom about health care and health insurance in this country.

One of the myths she takes on is that there are 46 million Americans who have no health insurance and therefore have no health care. I don’t want to quibble, but I might label this one (or at least the first part of this one) as a statistic that is true but misleading.

Are there 46 million Americans who are counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as uninsured? Yes. Are there more facts to consider in this statistic? Yes there are. For example, 14 million of these uninsured are eligible for existing government programs but have not signed up. Another 17 million of them are earning over $50,000 a year but do not buy insurance because they feel it is too expensive.

I might also mention that two-thirds of these uninsured are young people between 18 and 31 who consider themselves “invincible.” I have experience with that. My son was convinced that he didn’t need medical insurance. I bought him medical insurance anyway. I kept paying on the policy when he was working at part-time jobs and only stopped when I was sure he was receiving medical insurance from his employer.

There is one other fact that needs to be on the table. Since 64 percent of Americans get their insurance through their employer and insurance is not portable, many of the people who are counted as uninsured are merely between jobs. They are counted as uninsured even if that is a short period of time.

This leaves about 8 million uninsured that need some assistance. This is no small number, but it is much less than the 46 million figure constantly used. Medical personnel and policy experts have positive suggestions about what to do to help these 8 million. The point is this: we don’t need major reform of health care to meet that need. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.