Universal Healthcare and the Uninsured

We know the groundwork has been laid for universal healthcare in the stimulus bill, but how long will it be before it is a reality? It looks like universal or national healthcare may be here sooner than you think. Congress plans to address the issue very soon, perhaps in the first 100 days of the Obama Presidency.




The democrats are wasting no time either. They are well underway to getting the process started. Montana Senator Democrat Max Baucus, senate finance committee chairman, has unveiled his own healthcare plan. It is very similar to President Barack Obama’s plan from the campaign trail, but there is one little exception. Under Baucus' plan Americans would be required to have health insurance. In other words, it would be illegal for you to be without health insurance.

They claim the goal of the new proposal is to provide insurance for the so-called 47 million uninsured Americans we keep hearing about, but who are the 47 million uninsured?

Many of them are illegal immigrants, others can actually afford to pay medical costs out of pocket and some are too lazy to sign up for government health care benefits they are eligible for.

Here are some numbers from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) conducted in 2007 by the US Census Bureau.





· 9.7 million of the uninsured are non-citizens or illegal immigrants

· 7 million live in households with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000

· 7.6 million live in households with incomes more than $100,000

So that leaves 22.7 million uninsured or about 8% of the population, of which 7-10 million are eligible for government healthcare programs but fail to sign up according to the Congressional Budget report. This means the number of hardship and chronically uninsured Americans is closer to 12-15 million or approximately 4-5% of the population. This is hardly a healthcare crisis.



Under the government solution employers will be forced to provide health insurance to employees. Those who do not provide health insurance will have to pay into a fund to cover the uninsured. In other words, healthcare will no longer be an employer benefit, but a government mandate. This is just another hidden tax on business.





An analysis of Barack Obama's healthcare plan by a consulting firm estimates that his plan, which is similar to Baucus' proposal, would cost the taxpayers $75 billion in the first year. By 2018, we will have spent over $1 trillion to fund this government insurance scheme.





The analysis also found that Obama's plan might worsen some problems like shortages of primary care doctors. The report also said, "Unless costs are cut, growing health care costs will increase the costs of Obama's plan dramatically over time and reduce the effectiveness of mandates. This could make the federal costs unsustainably high."

This leaves the question is 4-5% of uninsured Americans enough reason to destroy one of the best healthcare providers in the world by turning it into a socialist system?

If you still think it is, I suggest you take the time to read this well researched article comparing the different healthcare systems outside the United States by Michael Tanner, health policy expert at the Cato Institute.

You might find it interesting how many people escape their countries’ socialized medical systems for care in the United States to include former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Burlusconi. Tens of thousands of foreigners seek treatment in the US every year and one out of three Canadian physicians sends a patient to the US every year. The Canadian healthcare system pays 1 billion a year for care in the US.



Although it is definitely not perfect, no system is, one could argue that there is no system better than the US. Universal or national healthcare is not only bad for Americans, but also bad for the world.