Tuesday, July 03, 2007

CDC vs. Census Bureau on Number of Uninsured Kids


Some 1.5 million children got insurance somewhere between Washington, DC and Atlanta, Georgia. The Census Bureau estimated 8.3 million children had no health insurance as of 2005, the most recent data available. The Centers for Disease Control pegged that number at 6.8 million.

The adult data is similarly divergent. The U.S. hit a record 46.6 million uninsured people according Census Bureau figures released last August. The trend is clearly upward from some 40 million in Bush's first year in office.

The CDC paints a very different picture with the uninsured stable somewhere between 41.2 and 43.6 million over a number of years.

So what's the real story? America had 8.4 million uninsured kids in 1992, virtually the identical number as the Census Bureau's most recent estimate. Have we only held ground with the advent of Childrens Health Insurance?

Adults have clearly lost ground according to both groups. Yet, the President wants to initiate tax deductions for 55 million people that only drop the number of uninsured 5 to 10%. Why give 55 million a break to get an addition 4 million people covered?

Something about the various numbers doesn't add up. As a matter of fact, from here it stinks...

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