Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Who Are The Uninsured?
So let us look at who the uninsured in America currently happen to include. If we are to assume that the Medicare and Medicaid program will continue to care for our elderly, then by Census Bureau 2009 estimates[1], that would account for 38.8 million of the estimated 50 million (when did it move from 45 million to 50 million?) persons currently in the US. I can not see where a good argument could be made for moving the elderly from one government program to another; it just doesn’t make much sense.
As reported by Craig, et al (2005)[2]:
“…foreign-born Hispanics who are not citizens and have lived less than one year in the United States have the highest uninsured rate (82 percent) as compared with those who have lived in the United States longer. Foreign-born non-citizen Hispanics who lived in the United States for 15 or more years had an uninsured rate of 46 percent.”
So again turning to Census Bureau estimates, the number of Hispanics who are uninsured currently in the US account for 15.3 million[3], with the majority of those (82%) being non-citizens in the US for less than a year.
So 38.8 million plus 15.3 million makes 54.1 million, or more than the government has given as an estimated, so that would certainly account for one of your first cost overruns. If you look at the latest commentary by Jeffrey A. Miron, a senior lecturer on economics at Harvard University, (who estimates 46 million uninsured), he offers a good piece of advice, “A … way to reduce subsidies is to gradually increase the age of eligibility for Medicare from its current level of 65, to 70 or more. This makes sense because of the improvements in life expectancy and health status of the elderly that have occurred over the past 40 years.”[4]
Let’s turn to the Census Bureau again for some data – Raising the Medicare eligibility from 65 to 70 would immediately remove 11.3 million people from Medicare this year. By 2014 that number will have grown to over 15 million.
This still leaves a lot of people without health insurance, but we will look at some options
Later…
[1] United States Census Bureau. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origen for The United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 (NC-EST2008-03). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/popest/national/arsh/NC-Est2008-03/NC-EST2008-03.xls
[2] Craig, S., Turner, J, and O’Hara, B (2005). Investigating the Role of Hispanic Origin in Estimating the Number of Uninsured. United States Census Bureau retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/sahie.
[3] United States Census Bureau, People With or Without Health Insurance Coverage by Selected Characteristics: 2005 and 2005. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/hlthin06/p60no233_table6.pdf
[4] Miron, Jeffrey A. (June 15, 2009) Commentary: US health costs our of control. Retrieved: Jun 17, 2009 from http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/15/miron.health.costs/index.html
As reported by Craig, et al (2005)[2]:
“…foreign-born Hispanics who are not citizens and have lived less than one year in the United States have the highest uninsured rate (82 percent) as compared with those who have lived in the United States longer. Foreign-born non-citizen Hispanics who lived in the United States for 15 or more years had an uninsured rate of 46 percent.”
So again turning to Census Bureau estimates, the number of Hispanics who are uninsured currently in the US account for 15.3 million[3], with the majority of those (82%) being non-citizens in the US for less than a year.
So 38.8 million plus 15.3 million makes 54.1 million, or more than the government has given as an estimated, so that would certainly account for one of your first cost overruns. If you look at the latest commentary by Jeffrey A. Miron, a senior lecturer on economics at Harvard University, (who estimates 46 million uninsured), he offers a good piece of advice, “A … way to reduce subsidies is to gradually increase the age of eligibility for Medicare from its current level of 65, to 70 or more. This makes sense because of the improvements in life expectancy and health status of the elderly that have occurred over the past 40 years.”[4]
Let’s turn to the Census Bureau again for some data – Raising the Medicare eligibility from 65 to 70 would immediately remove 11.3 million people from Medicare this year. By 2014 that number will have grown to over 15 million.
This still leaves a lot of people without health insurance, but we will look at some options
Later…
[1] United States Census Bureau. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origen for The United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 (NC-EST2008-03). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/popest/national/arsh/NC-Est2008-03/NC-EST2008-03.xls
[2] Craig, S., Turner, J, and O’Hara, B (2005). Investigating the Role of Hispanic Origin in Estimating the Number of Uninsured. United States Census Bureau retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/sahie.
[3] United States Census Bureau, People With or Without Health Insurance Coverage by Selected Characteristics: 2005 and 2005. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/hlthin06/p60no233_table6.pdf
[4] Miron, Jeffrey A. (June 15, 2009) Commentary: US health costs our of control. Retrieved: Jun 17, 2009 from http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/15/miron.health.costs/index.html
