Over one quarter of Americans between the ages of 18-64 do not have any health insurance. The CDC released a new study showing 59.1 million Americans do not have health insurance and even worse, the people who cannot afford it are increasingly members of the middle class.
The 26% excludes the population which qualifies for Medicare (age 65 or older).
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In the first quarter of 2010, approximately 50 million (26%) persons aged 18--64 years had no health insurance for at least part of the 12 months preceding their interview, and 30 million (16%) had no insurance for more than a year.
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From 2006 to 2009, the number of adults aged 18--64 years without health insurance at some point during the prior year increased by an average of about 1.1 million per year. About half of the total increase occurred among those with family incomes two to three times the federal poverty level.
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Although lack of insurance can be linked to poverty, in 2009, 32% of persons aged 18--64 years with family incomes two to three times the poverty level and 21% with family incomes three to four times the poverty level went without health insurance for part of the preceding 12 months.
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In 2009, adults aged 18--64 years with no health insurance for the previous 12 months were seven times as likely to forgo needed health care because of cost as those with continuous insurance coverage.
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In 2009, more than 40% of adults aged 18--64 years who had high blood pressure, asthma, or diabetes and no health insurance went without some medical care because of cost during the preceding 12 months.
Even worse, more people with chronic conditions don't have health insurance.
Among persons aged 18--64 years with diabetes mellitus, those who had no health insurance during the preceding year were six times as likely (47.5% versus 7.7%) to forgo needed medical care as those who were continuously insured.
It would be more interesting of those who do, those who are forced into individual plans, how many are afraid to use it for fear of being canceled and also of interest, how many of those individual plans cover very little in actual costs.
Below is a state map of those who did not have health insurance from 2009 (via the CDC).
Socialsim by any other name
Socialsim by any other name and for any reason is not acceptable to real Americans. That's all you need to know. The health care bill is as good as repealed (2012) and will remain as a testament to what happens when marxists are given power in government. People like this author can ramble on about this and that, but it comes down to Americans rejecting socialism, pure and very simple. The delusional tedhnical discussions can continue in the liberal bubble that these people lieve in, but after last Tuesday it is apparent that they inhabit this bubble by themselves.
Real Americans know how to Spell
Real Americans know how to learn facts and not just throw out silly sound bytes that are not based in reality.
Firstly, Obamacare is NOT "socialism", not by a long shot. It's a corporate lobbyist giveaway as is the current health care system.
Learn your definitions! Secondly, the VA medical system is "socialist" if you wish to get technical. It's a government run health care system. There ya have it. So is Medicare and Medicaid.
Then, your "socialist" systems that are the real ones, are in Switzerland, yes, Switzerland, that bastion of commie loving pinko capitalists where the tax rate is 16% and their medical costs are really low. It's also in Japan, all of Europe and every other industrialized nation that is currently kicking our economic ass.
Folks, you really need to stop repeating silly sound bytes and get educated on the truth but Obamacare is NOT socialism and thinking you should enable even more predatory behavior of the for profit health care sector, which has been every "Republican" plan is insane.
Finally, health care was NOT the reason for election 2010 vote from all of the exit polls.
Stop being a corporate health insurance lobbyists tool and start using your brain. You can be conservative on this site but you cannot be misinformed just writing sound byte absurdities.
Why would we want to follow
Why would we want to follow Europe's lead? People over there are rioting because their system is failing. "Anarchists" in the UK are in the streets calling for lower taxes and more benefits. You can't just throw the tax burden on a small percentage of a nation. I don't want to be like the people in France begging their Government for more benefits. I'd rather live on my own terms.
Vote Libertarian!
You try living without health insurance!
All you self-righteous idiots out there: You live with a chronic disease that takes your whole life away - then whine to me about how the prospect of affordable health care is socialism!
I have a chronic disease, lost my job, my health insurance, and now live on a pittance, where I have to make daily choices about whether to afford housing, food, or medicine. I am not fat, lazy, or ignorant. I don't live in any kind of luxury by anyone's standards and I never did. I wasn't raised to think it's ok to take public aid of any kind. I have exhausted all avenues of Federal, State, and local aid and am now out of options. I'm not eligible for Medicare until next year and considered 'uninsurable' by insurance companies due to 'prexisting' conditions. I don't know what I will do in between now and then - how I will get my prescriptions or get the blood draws that are necessary to monitor my conditions.
So, that's a long way of saying your rhetoric is meaningless compared to the hard reality of what I deal with every day. And I'm not the only one by far. ANY kind of health care that I didn't have to fight tooth and nail for and pay untold sums for - would be a real blessing. It would mean one less taxing fight every day. How can you say to me that I don't deserve it? That, through my struggles, I haven't earned the right to have good, affordable health care? Because that's exactly the message you just sent by what you wrote.
You know, the problem with people like you - and reflected by the whole of American society - is that you're selfish. You don't care about anyone else's suffering so long as your precious way of life isn't impacted. Shame on you! Shame on us all! This isn't the America I grew up knowing :-(