AP writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar sees peril in the lack of organization among the people who are said not to have health insurance:

If the uninsured were a political lobbying group, they’d have more members than AARP. The National Mall couldn’t hold them if they decided to march on Washington. But going without health insurance is still seen as a personal issue, a misfortune for many and a choice for some. People who lose coverage often struggle alone instead of turning their frustration into political action…

the uninsured linger in the background as Congress struggles with a health care overhaul that seems to have the best odds in years of passing. That isolation could have profound repercussions…advocates in the halls of Congress are rarely the uninsured themselves. The most visible are groups that represent people who have insurance, usually union members and older people. In the last election, only 10 percent of registered voters said they were uninsured.

The AP does not note that young adults who do not care about health insurance, such as this guy, make up one third of all the uninsured in the United States. The AP story also does not report that at least 10 million of the uninsured are said to be illegal immigrants.

So let’s get this straight: (a) a third of the uninsured are young people who don’t care to buy insurance; (b) perhaps a quarter to a third of the uninsured are in the country illegally; (c) the uninsured don’t vote; (d) there doesn’t seem to be much of an outcry to address this issue at this time; and (e) the Obama budget calls for $600 billion in new spending on this issue — more than the entire budget for defense. Did we get that right?

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 4:08 am and is filed under business, Democrats, General, Left of Left, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.