Man Bites Dog

If it bleeds it leads.

Bad news sells. Good news doesn't.

Perhaps that is why almost nothing is said about the recent DROP in the number of uninsured.

The number of Americans without health insurance dropped by more than 1 million people in 2007, the first annual decline in seven years, U.S. Census Bureau officials announced Tuesday.

In this election year politician's want to talk about the uninsured and how their plan will save you.

What they don't tell you are the facts behind the numbers.

1 million FEWER uninsured in 2007 than the year before and the first DROP in the number of uninsured in 7 years.

"Both the percentage and number of people without health insurance decreased in 2007," David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division

Just under 10,000,000 of the uninsured are children under the age of 18.

More than 90% of them have one or more parents who work.
60% live in two-parent families.
70% have incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level (1997).

Almost 3 out of 4 uninsured children live in homes that qualify for existing taxpayer funded plans such as Medicaid and SCHIP.

So why aren't the parents availing themselves of this coverage?

For obvious reasons, it is difficult to get a handle on how many of the uninsured are illegal aliens. Estimates range from 10 - 15 million.

This problem is worse in border states, particularly California and Texas where almost 1 in 4 residents do not have health insurance.