One of the most frustrating talking points against health care reform is that we don’t want to “rush”. There’s no crisis. We should scrap this and start over. Go small. Do little.
Then you see something like this:
The number of uninsured adults and children in California swelled by 25 percent between 2007 and 2009, according to a new report by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.
One quarter of the state’s population is now uninsured, according to the analysis, and less than half of those with insurance receive it through employers.
The increase, to 8.2 million from 6.4 million, is largely because of job loss during the recession, said Shana Alex Lavarreda, co-author of the study and director of health insurance studies at U.C.L.A.’s Center for Health Policy Research. The figures include all workers in the state regardless of immigration status.
In 2007, even before the economy’s collapse, the number of uninsured adults and children in California had reached more than six million, Dr. Lavarreda added.
One quarter of people. Remember, everyone over the age of 65 has Medicare. So the percentage of non-elderly without insurance is even higher.
By the way, the numbers of people also on public insurance also increased over this time. All the net loss is from the private insurance system. And insurance rates are going up and up and up.
How high is a crisis? Does anyone think the economy issues are solved? Is unemployment going away?
At what point do we say enough?
