We find out from the CBO who’s analysis is linked below that ObamaCare would run up the deficit by $1 TRILLION over the next 10 years.
The net effect would be to cover 13% of the non elderly population currently uninsured. Of those, according to the CBO, one third of those 13% are illegal here. If you subtract those from the numbers you arrive at 8.7% uninsured.
Blowing up the whole health care system for 8.7% uninsured? ‘Scuse me?

And taking up some of the issues often discussed by those who claim American health care is in a shambles. This is a truncated version of a policy paper from the Washington Policy Center’s Dr. Roger Stark whose full piece is here. Thanks to an alert 5th Listener who sent it along.

First of all, we hear a lot about how terrible the infant mortality rate is in the United States, with supposedly the worst in the civilized world. Is this true? Not really. U.S. health officials count all live births, while many other countries only count full-term births or infants who live at least 28 days. Obviously, premature infants, who are counted in the U.S., but not in other countries, have a much higher risk of mortality.

Second, it is repeatedly said that people in the U.S. do not live as long as in other countries. Again, this is true. However, deaths from homicide and accidents distort the picture. When the data is adjusted for these categories, life expectancy in the U.S. is as high as in other countries. Homicide and trauma certainly reflect a country’s social problems, but they tell us little about a country’s health care system.

Third, we hear that each year there are nearly 100,000 unnecessary hospital deaths in the U.S., a clear indictment of our health care quality. A panel of physicians reviewed the hospital data, however, and found that the great majority of these deaths occurred at the end of the patient’s natural life, when the outcome would have been the same regardless of what hospital staff did or did not do. In other countries, these older, desperately ill people might not even be sent to a hospital, dying instead at home, and are thus not included in national medical statistics.

Fourth, we hear people are often forced to declare bankruptcy because of medical bills. It turns out advocates count any bankruptcy case involving even a single medical bill, whether or not health costs had anything to do with causing the bankruptcy.

Also, people ages 55 to 65, who have more personal control over their health coverage, are less likely to declare bankruptcy, while people over 65, who are on government-run Medicare, have seen a doubling of their bankruptcy rate. In the case of the elderly, tax-funded health care has not reduced financial problems for older Americans.

Fifth, what about the 45.7 million uninsured? Who are they, and are medical costs and availability the reasons they don’t have health insurance? If we look at the actual numbers, it turns out that one-third of these people are eligible for existing government programs (Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP, etc.) but haven’t applied. Half of this 45.7 million are transitioning between jobs, and nearly one-fourth of the total are not U.S. citizens.

It turns out advocates count anyone who was without health coverage at any time during a calendar year.

Out of the entire 45.7 million, only about 8 million are chronically uninsured. This represents less than 5% of our total population. While an important number, it is arguably not large enough to be the primary motivator for an entire government overhaul of our health care system that would impact the other 95% of our population.