Who has? Every state and the consultants hired by every state. Every insurance department of every state, and every public health department of every state. I do not trust the CDC nor the Census Bureau for reasons that go beyond the scope of this thread. I barely trust the states anymore. While not my bailiwick, I am involved to a certain degree on very similar matters. I have testified @ hearings numerous times as an expert witness as well as being a member of nationally recognized committees and subcommittees that provide data and recommendations to legislatures; Scout's Honor -- Gospel.
I will simply say (again) that 42-million (or 47 or 50 or whatever it is next week) is misleading. If you measured it in months exposed or life-years exposed to being uninsured, it is significantly less than 42-million life-years. Again, if you're 25-years old and invincible, and you don't purchase -- I can't help. If you're a family of 4 making $85k and you don't purchase it (but can afford it), I can't help you. If you're eligible for subsidy, and don't sign up -- I can't help you. These numbers are not insignificant. It also baffles me that you completely discount the people that regain coverage in a short few months.
Finally, if you're suggesting that rationing is taking place in the private market, you're right. You can thank the people and state legislatures for the HMO era and managed care; that's what everybody wanted at the time as a way to reduce the frequency and severity of claims. It worked for awhile, however, the legislatures like to mandate new coverages every year. It couldn't be for votes or anything like that. NO!! Wait, now I remember -- every sob story becomes law now. Every state has numerous state mandated benefits, from chiro coverage, optometry, mental health and substance abuse, eating disorders, .... , clear down to hearing aids for kids. Some states have as few as 15 whilst others have over 40! This greatly adds to the cost of insurance. I believe AHIP or CATO has a matrix of states and their mandated benefits.
But don't forget -- there is rationing in Medicaid, Medicare, and any other form of government health care; only more.
This is really boring man. Kind of a drag.....
Originally Posted by matclone  Who has?
It's not hard to find problems with numbers but your arguments are again misleading. When people say 14% (42/300m) are uninsured, it's a snapshot figure and it's typically used to show the magnitude of the problem. You introduce new criteria (the chronically uninsured/never able to get coverage) that are not imagined by such figures, presumably in order to divert our attention from the fact that there are a great number of uninsured people as well as a lot of other problems with our healthcare system.
I basically trust the Census Bureau and the CDC, and you've given me no reason not to.
Ah, the hypothetical problem appears, undoubtedly driven by an ideological opposition to government involvement in such matters.
National health care opponents are dishonest to talk about (hypothetical) rationing without acknowledging the fact that we face (real) rationing of healthcare today from the private sector. |