Chart Reading - Uninsured in the United States of America
A great debate is occurring in the United States about health insurance. Everyone agrees that it is a good idea for people to have health insurance. The disagreement is on why many U. S. citizens lack insurance and how they should get coverage. A second debate is whether non citizens are entitled to insurance at the taxpayer's expense.
Several government sponsored programs provide health insurance. These programs are all funded by taxing people.
1. Who is covered by each program?
Medicare
Medicaid
SCHIP
Corrections Health
2. Consider this chart showing uninsured by state.
Which state has the highest rate of uninsured people?
Where does your state fall compared to the U.S. percentage of uninsured people?
What state(s) had the lowest uninsured rate?
What percentage of the states are equal to or lower than the overall U.S. rate of uninsured?
3. If the government intervenes regarding the uninsured, what impact do you predict
it will have on the federal budget?
4. Make some comparisons.
Find out what your state's government spent on health care in 2005 or 2006. How does it compare with federal spending?
5. How much does health insurance cost for a family of four in your community?
6. Researchers report that 68 percent of the adult illegal aliens they studied, had no health insurance. This compared with 17 percent of the native-born Americans, 23 percent of immigrants who had become citizens, and 38 percent of immigrants who are permanent legal residents. As a group, four in 10 of those born outside the United States lacked health insurance. Goldman et al., "Legal Status And Health Insurance Among Immigrants", Health Affairs, 24, no. 6 (2005): 1640-1653.
Who should pay for the health care of people who are in the country illegally?
Who should pay for health insurance or health care for temporary workers who are in the United States?
Health Insurance Coverage Overview Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006,
* The number of uninsured children increased from 8 million (10.9 percent) in 2005 to 8.7 million (11.7 percent) in 2006.
Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to those reporting a single race only)
* The number of uninsured, as well as the rate without health insurance, remained statistically unchanged in 2006 for non-Hispanic whites (at 21.2 million or 10.8 percent). For blacks, the number and percentage increased, from 7 million in 2005 to 7.6 million and from 19 percent in 2005 to 20.5 percent. The number of uninsured Asians remained statistically unchanged, at 2 million in 2006, while their uninsured rate declined to 15.5 percent in 2006, from 17.2 percent in 2005. * The number and percentage of uninsured Hispanics increased from 14 million (32.3 percent) in 2005 to 15.3 million (34.1 percent).
* Based on a three-year average (2004-2006), 31.4 percent of people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native as their race were without coverage. The three-year average for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders was 21.7 percent.
Nativity
* Between 2005 and 2006, the number of U.S.-born residents who were uninsured increased from 33 million to 34.4 million, and their uninsured rate increased from 12.8 percent in 2005 to 13.2 percent. The number of foreign-born who were uninsured rose from 11.8 million in 2005 to 12.6 million, and their rate was statistically unchanged at 33.8 percent in 2006.
Project Immigration: Illegal Immigrant Healthcare
Texas taxpayers spent $678 million on healthcare for illegal immigrants
Regions
* The Midwest had the lowest uninsured rate in 2006, at 11.4 percent, followed by the Northeast (12.3 percent), the West (17.9 percent) and the South (19 percent). The Northeast and South experienced increases in their uninsured rates — their 2005 rates were 11.7 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
State Health Care Statistics on Health Coverage & Uninsured
Further thinking:
What should be America's Priority for Health Care Funding?
10 Things Hospital CEOs Won't Tell You, Angie C. Marek , Smart Money 11/12/2008
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posted 10/2007 In the spirit of Thomas Paine - released to public domain by Cynthia J. O'Hora
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