From St. Petersburg Times:
Many people assume that the 47 million Americans who don't have health insurance simply can't afford it.
But the fact is, some don't want it.
Among the 47 million are 9.1 million who earn $75,000 or more a year and 11 million who declined coverage from their employers, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Employment Policies Institute. That also includes many who are young, single and healthy, plus a growing number who rely on alternative and faith-based therapies usually not covered by traditional insurance plans.
These are the voluntarily uninsured, people who may not welcome Washington's efforts to make sure that all Americans have some kind of coverage.
Talk of mandatory health insurance coverage is getting louder. On Thursday, Senate leaders announced that their legislation would require people to carry health insurance or face fines of more than $1,000.
"One thing for everybody doesn't make sense," said June O'Neill, a professor of economics at City University of New York and co-author of "Who are the Uninsured?'' The report, issued last week by the Employment Policies Institute, calls the 47 million figure a "relatively coarse measurement" that doesn't help craft effective policy.
O'Neill divides the uninsured population by:
• Income: 43 percent make more than 21/2 times the poverty level, or $55,125 for a family of four.
• Age: half are under 35.
• Marital status: half are single.
Concludes O'Neill: "There are other things they would rather do with their money" than buy insurance. (accent is mine)
4 comments:
Guess why so many don't want health insurance. Because they know public aid and bankruptcy will get them out of their bills. A single payer, universal health insurance plan that covers all citizens and we all pay into through an income tax, puts a stop to this. It takes the burden of health insurance expense off business and retirement funds.
I figured you would be on board with national health insurance after Walmart came out in support BGP.
My husband and I make over $100,000 a year and we choose NOT to have health insurance. Why? Because we believe in saving for and paying our own bills.
Our home is paid for. Our vehicles are paid for. And when I had a stroke two years ago (at age 57), we used our savings to pay for it-- in full. (And even then we made cost cutting/ common sense decisions. No, I didn't want to go into a 'full time' rehab center that the doctor was pushing. Common sense plus self-education about strokes, told me that most healing happens naturally within the first two months. So I went with that first--and recovered on my own.)
For the 'health care debate': as people who CHOOSE to be uninsured, my husband and I wonder why so many people feel compelled to 'feed into and support' the bizarrely over-priced institution of the so called 'health' industry!
Here's a solution-- abolish health insurance. If people paid for health care, within their means (with no health industry back up)-- either only the rich would get health care -- OR the health industry might suddenly come down to earth on it's pricing.
But of course, that can't happen. 'Health Care' is entrenched Big Business and now the government is unwittingly playing right into it's greedy, overpriced hands, too.
[One last note-- a 'fine' of $1,000 if you don't sign up for the gov't plan? Well, that's still cheaper than the outrageous premiums charged per year by health insurance companies!]
My husband and I make over $100,000 a year and CHOOSE not to have health insurance.
What do we do for health costs?
Pay for it, like any other bill.
And like any other bill-- we shop around, make choices, and live within our means.
Universal health care sounds great--but only when it's not feeding into, and supporting, the existing, overprice and greedy health insurance behemouth that exists in America these days.
I'm 36, never been in a hospital. Never had insurance and if I needed a hospital I'd pay for it myself. Just fine me so you govt. bastards can give health care to someone else. Socialism.
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