The Claim Of “46 Million Uninsured” Americans Deserves A Closer Look.

Quote: “Subtract noncitizens and those who can afford their own insurance but choose not to purchase it, and the number of uninsured falls dramatically. ‘Many Americans are uninsured by choice.’”

“The Phantom Uninsured.” Investors.com. 16 June 2009.

A friend of mine, Dan Sullivan*, lives in both Canada and the U.S., and is insured under two different health insurance programs, one government and one private. Which system is better?

Well, each is good in its own way, he says. He calls the Canadian approach an “80 percent system” because it’s good for 80 percent of what ails you—in other words, ordinary injuries and sicknesses. The treatments are good, fast, and low-cost.

But the moment you get into more specialized care and treatments, the system fails badly; for example, getting an MRI can take months. When his friend needed cataract surgery, she was told that she was too young and wouldn’t be eligible for treatment until she was sixty-five. A phone call had her taken care of in a private Chicago-area surgery center within a week.

There are many specialized forms of care that are scarce or non-existent because the system won’t pay for the doctors or the technology. For all of those, he comes to the U.S., where his coverage gives him instant access to top care.

He believes that the Canadian system wouldn’t work in the U.S. because America’s population is ten times bigger and far more individualistic and entrepreneurial in its attitudes. The American system wouldn’t work in Canada because Canadians have a greater belief in and dependency on government than Americans do.

U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that of the reported 46 million who are not insured in the U.S., more than nine million are not citizens. In addition, more than 17 million with incomes of $50,000 or more choose not to buy insurance. Forty percent of the uninsured, or more than 18 million, are young, healthy individuals. Last year, all uninsured individuals in the U.S. received a total of $116 billion in health care despite their lack of coverage. No insurance doesn’t mean no care.

* Dan Sullivan is founder of Strategic Coach and the author of The Global Thinker