The Truth on Healthcare

There are approximately 307 million people in the United States. The claim is that there are 47 million people without healthcare coverage. Out of that number 9.1 million people earn $75,000 a year or more and chose not to have healthcare insurance, even though they can afford it. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 59% of the nations illegal immigrants are uninsured, or about 7.1 million people.

This means that effectively there are approximately 30.8 million American citizens who are uninsured, or about 10% of the U..S. population. To put it another way, 90% of Americans, who want it, have health insurance. Further, for the most part, these 90% are very satisfied with their coverage. The question now becomes why do we want a massive, federal government controlled, trillion dollar plus, national healthcare program when 90% of the American people are covered and satisfied? Further, why do we want to push the United States even deeper into debt when we are already in a significant financial crisis?

There needs to be a plan to take care of those who are uninsured, and there needs to be refinements in our current healthcare coverage through our existing insurance process to make it less bureaucratic and streamlined, easier for the patients and doctors. The root causes of underlying cost also need to be addressed. What this means is refinements, corrections, and minor new initiatives, but not a massive federally controlled healthcare makeover that will result in poorer healthcare at a staggering cost.

Those in Washington who appear to be stampeding toward pushing through still another massive federal program are urged to stop, look at the facts, and make rational decisions on healthcare.