Advertiser-Tribune.com
October 14, 2003
Uninsured at times is choice of consumer
Only a very small percentage of the uninsured truly have no access to health insurance and go without insurance for long periods of time. It appears that most of the uninsured simply choose not to buy insurance.
The National Center for Policy Analysis dug a bit deeper into the Census Bureau’s report. It turns out that almost half of the increase in the number of insured has occurred among households earning more than $75,000 a year, and about three-quarters of the rise is among households earning $50,000 a year.
… one thing is certain from the Census Bureau data: There is not really a “crisis” of insured…
http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/edit/story/1014202003_edtedit1014.asp
And…
National Center for Policy Analysis
Brief Analysis
October 7, 2003
Uninsured by Choice: Update
From 1993 to 2002 the number of uninsured people in households with annual
incomes above $75,000 increased by 114 percent. The number of uninsured in households with annual incomes from $50,000 to $75,000 increased by 57 percent.
By contrast, the number of uninsured people in households with incomes
under $25,000 fell by 17 percent.
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba460/
Comment: The numbers of uninsured have continued to increase. With the decline in employer-sponsored and individual coverage, the problem would be much worse if it were not for an increase in enrollment in public programs for low-income individuals, especially Medicaid and S-CHIP. By carefully selecting data from the Census Bureau report, NCPA has used correct figures in changes of the rate of coverage to deceive readers into believing that most of the problem lies within high income households. The spurious conclusion is that most of the uninsured are individuals with high incomes who are uninsured by choice. The absolute numbers totally refute this conclusion.
NCPA is a favorite source for conservative journalists. But they are dishonest. They use technically accurate but highly-selected numbers, and present them in a manner that appears to have drawn conclusions that are not warranted by a more comprehensive analysis of the complete data. Reading their brief on the uninsured would lead you to believe that the problem of uninsurance is primarily one of personal choice, but they didn’t quite state that. But as you read articles based on NCPA’s brief, it seems that the authors believe that these conclusions were clearly stated in their
report.
As we reform health care, it is essential that we understand the true nature of the problems. Presenting data that deliberately create false conclusions is really no different than lying. The methods of NCPA should disqualify them as a credible source of health care information.