With every passing quarter, we see Obamacare working better to bring down the percentage of people without health insurance in this country. In the first quarter of this year, the percentage of uninsured was 11.9% -- but in the second quarter, that dropped to 11.4% (a half a percentage point drop). The Republicans are still trying to claim that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is not working, but the significant reduction in those without insurance proves that to be a lie.
The number without insurance is still too high, and that 11.4% needs to be cut even further -- but most of the reason it hasn't been is not due to Obamacare, but to the Republicans refusal to expand Medicaid in nearly half of the states. Note that in the under $36,000 group, the percentage of uninsured is 20.8% -- more than 1 out of every 5 people. Many of these people would qualify for Medicaid, if they lived in a state that had expanded Medicaid.
But while the refusal of red states to get on board with Obamacare has been ridiculous, and prevents many millions from being insured, let me point out the percentage in another group -- those 65 & over. That percentage is only 2%. Why? Because this group is covered by another program -- Medicare. Why don't we just cover all Americans with Medicare? By doing that we could get the uninsured percentage down to 2% for the entire country (and maybe even lower).
The chart was made from a Gallup Poll -- done between April 1st and June 30th of a random national sample of 43,575 adults, with a margin of error of only 1 point.
"Why don't we just cover all Americans with Medicare?" Because we don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people into complacency and dependence. Instead, we want them to die of preventable diseases.
ReplyDeletestill waiting for single pay
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