A few years ago, Michael Moore's screed against America's health-care system, SICKO, made the rounds. One of the few claims made by the films that has some truth is the claim that approximately 47 million Americans are uninsured, or about 15% of our population. This number has been effectively advanced as an argument against a cold, aloof, and profit-driven private sector and as THE PRINCIPAL MOTIVE behind the proposal for the government to take over the health-insurance industry. Its effectiveness as an argument has been profound, especially among Democrats who generally confuse emotion with critical, analytic thinking.
So, just who are these people? Would you be surprised to know that the U.S. Census Bureau issues an annual report detailing the demographic breakdown of those Americans who, for one reason or another, do not have health-insurance.
Now, if you're of an analytic bent, you can wade through the data and the charts and answer such questions yourself. However, if you're of a less disciplined nature, Michael Ramirez the IBD cartoonist synthesized the thousands of words and charts from the Census Bureau into this one picture.
If you're a Democrat whose compassion has gotten the better of your intellect, for which of these poor, troubled souls should we have government take over an additional 23% of our economy?
If you're thinking that the "between jobs" category deserves my tax dollars, I have one word COBRA!
Posts
