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Originally Posted by willravel
The positives are seen by 2%, ace (and everyone). For everyone else, including the 45m without any insurance, it's sub par or unattainable. That's unacceptable.
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Look at the source cited by DC. If we agree there is 45 million without coverage and we agree that we are spending $43 billion on "uncompensated care" (a term in the report - in some cases uninsured people actually pay a portion of their bills) for those individuals that about $1,000 per person per year. Perhaps they don't get the best coverage, but I don't either. However, we all get the benefit of having the best medical system in the world, factoring in r&d, treatment options, regulations, wait times, etc.
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Let's say you live in Bakersfield, CA. It's boring as all hell there. There is nothing but suburbs and a highway. Let's also say that someone builds a ritzy 5 star hotel there. Indoor pools, expert massages, high end shopping, racquetball. Suddenly, the super rich are visiting to enjoy the 5 star hotel. Does that mean that Bakersfield is a fun place now? Of course not. I'd guess the average income in Bakersfield is under $25k a year. Those people living right around the corner from this hotel are SOL because they can't afford it. So while the hotel advertises that Bakersfield is the place to be, the reality is that for a vast majority of people in Bakersfield, the place is still the doldrums.
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My home town is an example of what you describe. It was in the "rustbelt". They legalized riverboat gambling. At first only a few benefited. Overtime new businesses were attracted, with an increased tax base many municipal projects were funded. The city is much nicer now that it was 25 years ago. What is it going to take to get you to believe "trickle down" actually works?
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A tidbit of information:
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That latter piece of data is alarming. Drilling even deeper, one finds that fully 27% of all the uninsured in the U.S. -- that's 12.6 million people -- aren't even citizens.
Not coincidentally, the government also estimates that about 12 million illegals now reside in the U.S., though some think tanks put the number as high as 20 million.
Putting the two together, this suggests that -- surprise -- a major reason for the uninsured "problem" is our failure to enforce our border.
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The median household income, according to the data released this week, is $48,200. You might be surprised to discover that 38% of all the uninsured -- that's almost 18 million people -- have incomes higher than $50,000 a year. An astounding 20% of all uninsured have incomes over $75,000. These are people who can afford coverage.
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I am not going to reconcile the numbers, but the point remains.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...1-19231302.htm