So the most recent conventional wisdom holds that ObamaCare has reduced the number of uninsured by half:
"Obamacare pushes nation's health uninsured rate to record low 8.6 percent"
Which would be a great start, were it true.
Here's why it's not:
The article's baseline is that, in 2010, 48.6 million (or about 15%) of Americans were uninsured (which was always bogus, of course, but for the sake of argument we'll go with that percentage). That is, there are 21 million fewer "uninsured" folks than there were in 2010. The problem is that 15 million of those folks are not insured, they're on Medicaid, meaning that only about 6 million people (net) are newly insured. By the way, I'm not parsing words when I say that Medicaid isn't insurance: it's income redistribution.
So what proponents are really saying is that almost twice as many people are now on the Medicaid rolls as bought actual health insurance.
#Winning!
[Hat Tip: David Williams]
"Obamacare pushes nation's health uninsured rate to record low 8.6 percent"
Which would be a great start, were it true.
Here's why it's not:
The article's baseline is that, in 2010, 48.6 million (or about 15%) of Americans were uninsured (which was always bogus, of course, but for the sake of argument we'll go with that percentage). That is, there are 21 million fewer "uninsured" folks than there were in 2010. The problem is that 15 million of those folks are not insured, they're on Medicaid, meaning that only about 6 million people (net) are newly insured. By the way, I'm not parsing words when I say that Medicaid isn't insurance: it's income redistribution.
So what proponents are really saying is that almost twice as many people are now on the Medicaid rolls as bought actual health insurance.
#Winning!
[Hat Tip: David Williams]
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