Like Unemployment, Being Uninsured is Temporary

From today's Detroit News, an article by economist John Goodman titled "Myths Pump Up Ranks of America's Uninsured," here are some excerpts:

About 47 million Americans lack health insurance, according to the most recent Census Bureau report. But this figure is misleading, because almost every poor person in America is eligible for the federal Medicaid program, and millions of near-poor adults can enroll their children in a state children's health insurance program.

To call such people "uninsured" is a misnomer. We have been assuming the 47 million number is meaningful, but it isn't. Other government reports suggest the true number is as little as half that size. Like unemployment, the condition of uninsurance tends to be temporary. Of those uninsured at any point in time, 75 percent will become insured within 12 months.

Read the entire article here.