Health Care BS

When “the uninsured crisis” is covered in the news media, the stories always insinuate that vast hordes of people are doing without coverage because they can’t afford it. The reality is, however, quite different.

In fact, as Devon Herrick of the National Center for Policy Analysis points out, the fastest-growing segment of the uninsured population has been upper-income families. He provides a chart that drives the point home:

As the chart shows, the percentage of low-income families without coverage has dropped significantly during the past ten years while the percentage of upper income families has gone up by a whopping 65%.

Now, how does one explain such a counterintuitive phenomenon? Herrick explains that the problem goes back to state regulations and benefit mandates that create perverse incentives: 

Many states try to make it easy for a person to obtain insurance after becoming sick by requiring insurance companies to offer immediate coverage for pre-existing conditions with no waiting period. Thus, when people are healthy they have little incentive to participate and tend to avoid paying for coverage until they need care.

In other words,  government has once again worked its peculiar magic. By meddling in the health insurance market, it has increased the ranks of the uninsured among people who can afford coverage.

Yet another example of government at work, and why we would be crazy to give these boneheads any more control over U.S. health care.