42 Million Won't Have Health Insurance if ObamaCare Is Struck Down?

For years, Democrats have used a single, gross (total) Census Bureau statistic to try and justify their belief that our American health care system should be socialized with Medicare for all. That statistic -- the number of people in America (not just Americans) without health insurance -- was estimated to be 45.7 million people in 2007 and most experts in the field believe that number to be much higher due to the current high unemployment situation.

So, it was no surprise that, yesterday, on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, the ex Obama Green czar, Van Jones, claimed that 42 million Americans would be without health care if ObamaCare is struck down by the Supreme Court. Besides the fact that his stated 42 million Americans doesn't jive with Census Bureau data, that number is a flat distortion of the true facts.

First of all, "xx" million of people have never been without any health care in America. That's because the Reagan-signed, Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) of 1986 mandated that no one -- even those here illegally -- can ever be turned away from receiving medical care at a hospital emergency room; even if its just for a sniffle. So, to say that 42 million Americans will be without health care is a flat lie.

Beyond this, that Census Bureau number is a distortion unto itself. It is a gross calculation that completely ignores the various reasons as to why someone may or may not have health insurance. One such reason is wealth. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 21% of the uninsured are financially well off enough to buy employer-based or private insurance but elected not to. Also, 21% of the uninsured are immigrants -- either here legally or illegally -- who wouldn't be eligible for insurance under ObamaCare anyway. Additionally, 26% of the insured are eligible for state or federally provided Medicaid but probably don't know it. The remaining thirty-two percent are likely to be young and either elected not to buy insurance based on their good health or they are in low-paying jobs that don't offer it. And, it is this group of 15 million or so that is "really" being targeted by ObamaCare. So, the bottom line is that the Democrats are trying to completely take over health care in America to benefit the roughly 15 million people or that 5% or less of our population who are primarily young truly unable to get insurance.

All of the above statistics can be found at FactCheck.org at this link: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/06/the-real-uninsured/.