Monday, September 20, 2010

ObamaCare's Uninsured Unchanged by 2019?

Everything about ObamaCare is a fraud - but is this news? Congress knew the 2700 page bill was hog wash from the beginning, but it was the power that it would give to the federal government that tipped the scales for most of the legislators, liberal Democrat legislators that is. They all believed they would be in power for ever given insanity that brought Obama to power. But wow, how things have changed.

Most taxpayers are coming to see ObamaCare as the monster that it is, most legislators never even read it, and how it will change our lives and those of our off spring for decades if not generations.

Yet, millions still believe this is right and proper. Are we all doomed to destruction from ignorance, or is it just an astounding lack of common sense. Look around, watch and listen to what the politicians are saying, then vote for freedom of choice.


Crisis of the Uninsured: 2010 and Beyond
Source: Devon Herrick, "Crisis of the Uninsured: 2010 and Beyond," National Center for Policy Analysis, September 17, 2010.

One of the primary goals of the new federal health reform law -- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) -- is to ensure that all Americans have health insurance. Yet it is generally overlooked that the proportion of Americans without health coverage has been relatively stable over time, says Devon Herrick, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

According to the Census Bureau, in 2009 the number of individuals lacking health coverage rose from 46.3 million to 50.7 million. The proportion of uninsured Americans rose from 15.4 percent to 16.7 percent mostly due to job losses. In fact, the proportion of people without health insurance in 2009 is up just over one percentage point from a decade earlier.

The increase in the number of uninsured over the past decade is largely due to the recession, population growth, immigration and individual choice, says Herrick.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that about 32 million individuals will gain health coverage due to the PPACA -- about half of whom will be covered by Medicaid.
However, about 23 million people will remain uninsured in 2019 -- nearly half the 50.7 million today.

This figure may be wishful thinking -- the penalties for forgoing health coverage are less than the cost of coverage ($695 per individual or 2.5 percent of income).
More patients will be insured under the PPACA but that does not solve the problem of where they will be able to go to get care, says Herrick.

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