As I detailed in the New York Post last month, according to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans: 46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus the 9 million people on Medicaid who were falsely tallied. That’s 28 million out of 280 million American citizens (according to the Census), so 90 percent of Americans are insured — and nearly half of the rest make more money than most Americans do (also according to the Census).
But the CBO isn’t using the right figure, so its results — and thus its evaluations of the proposed legislation — are wildly askew. For example, the CBO says that the House health bill would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by about 32 million — out of the 28 million uninsured Americans that the Census says exist — and that 12 million Americans would remain uninsured. That adds up about as well as President Obama’s recent claim that siphoning hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare to spend on his own agenda “will streghthen Medicare.”
Subtracting from Medicare doesn’t strengthen Medicare anymore than 28 minus 32 equals 12. None of this inspires particular confidence in the federal government’s ability to run one-sixth of our economy.
11/13 09:26 AM
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
The CBO Is Using the Wrong Number of Uninsured
Jeffrey H. Anderson
As I detailed in the New York Post last month, according to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans: 46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus the 9 million people on Medicaid who were falsely tallied. That’s 28 million out of 280 million American citizens (according to the Census), so 90 percent of Americans are insured — and nearly half of the rest make more money than most Americans do (also according to the Census).
But the CBO isn’t using the right figure, so its results — and thus its evaluations of the proposed legislation — are wildly askew. For example, the CBO says that the House health bill would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by about 32 million — out of the 28 million uninsured Americans that the Census says exist — and that 12 million Americans would remain uninsured. That adds up about as well as President Obama’s recent claim that siphoning hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare to spend on his own agenda “will streghthen Medicare.”
Subtracting from Medicare doesn’t strengthen Medicare anymore than 28 minus 32 equals 12. None of this inspires particular confidence in the federal government’s ability to run one-sixth of our economy.
11/13 09:26 AM
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.