DU Factcheck: Freeper claims US has only 2 million uninsured!!

[usregimechange]

Statistics

Mark Twain once stated that "there are three kinds of lies; lies, damn lies, and statistics." The current data being presented by left-wing groups and local liberals that 43 million people are without health insurance is a perfect example of Mr. Twain's quote.

Please understand the techniques used to artificially inflate these numbers. First and foremost is the fact that if an individual is without health insurance for ONE day this year, they are included in this number. With the millions of new jobs being added, most people taking a job or switching jobs must wait 30-60 days for their insurance to take effect.

After this time they are, in most cases, covered by their new employer. This alone reduces the number of uninsured currently being counted from 45 million to approximately 20 million individuals.

Of the 20 million left, approximately 50 percent who make $50,000 or more annually are young individuals who voluntarily decline to pay for healthcare options through their deductions. This is their choice, not their employer's.

Of those remaining, a large number are currently eligible for federal and state programs but because of various reasons simply do not take advantage of the opportunities already available to them.

Finally, a sizable percentage of the remaining balance involves illegal immigrants who are not supposed to even be in this country and, once again, artificially inflate the numbers.

When you REALLY look at the truth involving this issue, you find that there are approximately 2 million actual poor and uninsured in this country and President Bush has committed to spending $90 billion over the next 10 years on these truly needy individuals.

As the old saying states, "the devil is in the details." All this represents is the desperate attempt by the left to overtly inflate a problem and blame it on President Bush.

Allen Shirley

Joplin

http://joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=133051&PHPSESSID=9fb09ae313b7241a938dd99f8987a4c6

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. And Mr. Shirley's credentials

to conduct this analysis are...?
:eyes:

[usregimechange]

3. Local GOP party chair of something, picked who would attend

the Cheney "Town Hall" event a few weeks ago.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. So, he's a right-wingnut

That explains it.

[0rganism]

2. Millions of new jobs? Is the author smoking crack, or what?

Shirley freaking lies like a wet rug. The bush administration presides over a NET LOSS of over 1.5 MILLION jobs since 2001, and many of the replacement jobs the unemployed are taking lack comparable health benefits to those lost, as well as pay 30% less on average.

The devil is in lies, which when repeated often enough by the rightwing echo chamber, are accepted as truth by the listless public. Does anyone really buy the crap about "only" 2 million poor and uninsured in America? No, but say it often enough and people will think there's merit in the number.

[blondeatlast]

4. Why the cHENEY does it take 90 BILLION TO COVER 2 MILLION PEOPLE???

Mr. Shirley seems to only count adults in his calculations.

And he picked the $50,000 out of his butt; what difference does it make?

Drip, drip, drip--on SO many levels.

[Zero Division]

5. 2 milllion?!!! How f'ing out of touch can one be?

That's less than 1% of the entire U.S. population. Apparently this person has never gone outside and talked to the people around him about health insurance, because that's all you'd have to do to figure out that a hell of a lot more than 1% of the U.S. population is uninsured. And you sure as hell don't need to live amongst poverty to encounter people without it, either.

Reminds me of that time a Repub on TV claimed that 50% of Americans didn't pay taxes.

[usregimechange]

6. Or that the war on poverty was won! nt

[Tweed]

7. That article falls into the 'damn lies' section

http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p60-226.pdf

,The current data being presented by left-wing groups and local liberals that 43 million people are without health insurance is a perfect example of Mr. Twain's quote.,

Go to page 14. You will see that the government must be one of these left-wing groups. The number of people without insurance in 2003 was 45 million according to the US census. That's up 1.4 million from 2003.

I'm just trying to check her sources now, oh wait, she didn't have any. Amazing that this could get published.

[DemFromMem]

9. So does this mean that the old uninsured rate was -3 million?

I believe the data showed not only a high rate of unsured, but a massive increase as well. The figure 5 million rings a bell. Would that mean that the number of uninsured would have been negative last year :-) ?

[usregimechange]

11. Good point! nt

[cheshire]

10. In what county is that?

[Tweed]

12. Please write a letter to the editor in reply. Just click on the link

And then click 'Write a letter to the editor'. They will publish one of our letters if they get 9 or 10. Use real statistics unlike the author. Start with this link: http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p60-226.pdf

[jpgray]

13. The real question is, what business does a freeper have quoting Twain? (nt

[despairing optimist]

14. I hope that guy gets to tally Republican votes in Florida

Throw in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and the other swing states.

I like his math as long as he does the counting for his own party.

[girl gone mad]

15. More evidence that..

Republicans are out of touch.

[Guaranteed]

16. LOL and I'm one of them.

One of the 1/150 unlucky ones.

Right guys. Shut the fuck up.