Who are the Ohio uninsured?

Today I saw a statistic at a progressive site that reported 1.3 million adults and children in Ohio don't have health insurance. Notice--that's people, not citizens. And if Ohio does have about 11.5 million people that's about 10%. A very small number for which to upend what we have by ramming health care bills down our throats which our Congress and Senate seem unable to read or explain. Just this morning I was listening to a report about a committee where it was just roughed in--no details, no CBO report, but would be added to the mix. So I looked a few minutes and found this report from Buckeye Institute written in mid-2007 which begins with the media depiction of poor people without insurance. The writer doesn't even address the illegals we have in Ohio. It's a bit wordy, but addresses the key points: 1) within the uninsured stats, are those uninsured for only a few months; 2) some who have incomes that could afford it chose not to carry insurance; 3) young adults, the healthiest segment, have high uninsured rates (and in my opinion are naive, but that's another blog); many poor are eligible for gov't programs, but don't sign up.

“While there are certainly a good number of poor people among the uninsured, what is left largely unexplored is the fact that a large portion of the uninsured choose to go without insurance. And, in fact, it is likely that a majority of the uninsured are only uninsured for a few months. The people who choose to go without insurance or who are between insurance plans do not fit the media stereotype, but they fill the ranks of the uninsured in far greater numbers than do the families living in poverty who want insurance but cannot afford it.

Who would choose to go without insurance? The simple answer is that those who do not see a value in health insurance choose to forgo purchasing a policy. People who are in good health and do not see any reason to pay a monthly premium for a policy they are unlikely to use may make a choice to use their money elsewhere. Young adults in Ohio, the healthiest segment of the population, are uninsured at rates over twice as high as other segments of the population.

People with money also choose to forgo insurance. Almost one-third of Ohioans who are uninsured make incomes at twice the federal poverty level. Sixteen percent of the uninsured have incomes at three hundred percent of the federal poverty level. It is likely that the vast majority of these people, if they really wanted insurance, could afford it.

Surprisingly, the poor also choose to go without insurance. In Ohio, the state offers Medicaid to any child living in a family below 200% of the federal poverty level. Many families choose not to sign up for this program, however. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly 71% of Ohio's uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid but are not signed up for the program. The Governor is using the large number of uninsured children in the state to push for an expansion of Medicaid. As these numbers clearly show, though, most of the children are already eligible for Medicaid, they are just not using it.

The problem of current plan (Obamacare) is addressed at this article on the folly of expansion.