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Goanetter Francis Rodrigues (Vasco/Toronto) book launch in
London, England @ the World Goa Day festivities on 15 Aug at 7pm
Details http://www.konkanisongbook.com
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Hello Goanet,
There is confusion on the numbers, and characteristics of the uninsured
(health) in the US.
The information in M. Goveia post is severely at variance with what has
been published.
I offer two unbiased, non-partisan, sources to help you make up your mind.
1.
The National Coalition on Health Care, ( The National Coalition on Health Care
is the nation's largest and most broadly representative alliance working to
improve America's health care.)
and
2.
Factcheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the
University of Pennsylvania. (APPC has been the premier communication policy
center in the country since its founding in 1993.).
1. Here is an excerpt from the NCHC:
" Facts on the Cost of Health Insurance Coverage
How Many Americans Are Uninsured?
· Several studies estimate the number of uninsured Americans. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the
population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007, their
latest data available.1
· The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, using the Medical Expenditure
Panel Survey (MEPS) estimated that the percentage of uninsured Americans under
age 65 represented 27 percent of the population. According to the MEPS data,
nearly 54 million Americans under the age of 65 were uninsured in the
first-half of 2007. 2
· A recent study shows that based on the effects of the recession alone (not
job loss), it is projected that nearly seven (7) million Americans will lose
their health insurance coverage between 2008 and 2010. 3 Urban Institute
researchers estimate that if unemployment reaches 10 percent, another six (6)
million Americans will lose their health insurance coverage. Taking these
numbers together, it is conceivable that by next year, 57 to 60 million
Americans will be uninsured.
· The Urban Institute estimates that under a worse case scenario, 66 million
Americans will be uninsured by 2019. 4
· Nearly 90 million people – about one-third of the population below the age of
65 spent a portion of either 2007 or 2008 without health coverage.5 .
Who Are the Uninsured?
· The large majority of the uninsured (85 percent) are native or naturalized
citizens.6
· Nearly 1.3 million full-time workers lost their health insurance in 2006. 1
· Over 8 in 10 uninsured people come from working families – almost 70 percent
from families with one or 7
· The percentage and the number of uninsured Hispanics increased to 32.1
percent and overall to 15 million in 2007.1
...... "
Read more at: http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
2. Factcheck.org offers their analysis, and also rebuts statements of M.
Goveia.
Read:
“ The ‘Real’ Uninsured
Some critics say fewer people lack access to health coverage than official
statistics make it appear. We break down the numbers. June 24, 2009 “
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/06/the-real-uninsured/
It is my opinion that NCHC and Factcheck.org figures at best, underestimate the
number of uninsured in the USA.
I. Nunes
--- On Thu, 8/13/09, Mario Goveia <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Mario Goveia <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Misrepresentations of the views of others
To: [email protected]
Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 2:13 PM
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Goanetter Francis Rodrigues (Vasco/Toronto) book launch in
London, England @ the World Goa Day festivities on 15 Aug at 7pm
Details http://www.konkanisongbook.com
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From: Mario Goveia
[Quote below has been deliberately truncated to change its meaning]
"In the meantime, life in the US is terrible and racist. Millions are not
covered by health insurance. Millions are dying in the streets writhing in pain
while others pass them by without compassion. The life expectancy is
plummeting."
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:29:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: marlon menezes <[email protected]>
I am quite surprised that Mario would change in views of the US in such a short
time. It does not make sense for such drastic changes to take place in a matter
of just 7 months of the Obama presidency.. but then again, this is the same
Mario who has in the past advocated the claim of Global Cooling, or more
recently claimed that the Pope supports socialism or that the late John Paul
sympathized with 911 attackers because of his opposition to the Iraq war.
Mario responds:
This is pretty amazing. I wonder if Marlon is having comprehension issues.
To begin with, anyone who follows Goanet would know that I don't change my well
developed and clearly thought out views very easily.
I had already shown that the quote above was deliberately truncated by Mervyn
to misrepresent what I had written.
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-August/181463.html
So what does Marlon do? Amazingly, he repeats the misrepresentation. Does he
think I wouldn't notice?
The rest of his comments are just as bogus and thus meaningless, though I
wonder if he even knows that the globe hasn't noticeably warmed any further
since 1998.
Marlon wrote:
The problem with the above statement is that Americans want the best, but don't
have the means to pay for it. Furthermore, those who are currently
beneficiaries of this unsustainable system, quite logically fear that any
changes would mean a significant reduction of their benefits. Mario, who so
vocally opposes socialized medicine is one of its biggest beneficiary via the
Medicare system.
Mario responds:
If Marlon would read and/or understand what has been posted already he would
know that I am opposed to socialized medicine precisely because the government
run Medicare system is going broke. So, he has made another meaningless
statement.
Besides, 90% of Americans have health insurance and 70% are happy with what
they have, so to say that Americans don't have the means to pay for America's
superior health care is another bogus statement.
The estimate of the truly uninsured is somewhere around 15 million out of a
American population of over 300 million, not the 47 to 52 million that is being
bandied around. The higher figures include illegal aliens, legal aliens who
are not citizens and people earning over $75,000 a year who can afford to buy
insurance but haven't.
Marlon wrote:
Contrary to Mario's claim that the socialized system in the US is functioning
fine, the facts speak otherwise.
Mario observes:
Wow! Didn't I observe already that Marlon is having a severe comprehension
problem? Here is what I said in:
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-August/181502.html
Excerpt:
However, because the Medicare system has been designed and is run by government
bureaucrats and is a single-payer system, it is projected to become bankrupt by
2017.
http://www.examiner.com/x-11804-Health-Care-Examiner~y2009m6d17-Medicare-trustees-report-shows-program-will-run-out-of-money-earlier-than-expected
Thus for Gilbert to point to this system as a paragon to be expanded for all
Americans is disingenuous at best. Either that, or he has no idea what is
going on.
[end of excerpt]
Marlon wrote:
My preferred path would be to have a solely private system with basic
socialized coverage for children and the handicapped only. I also do not
support free health care for the aged. Higher premiums should be expected for
older people - that is an expected cost of getting older and should be factored
in by individuals during their working years. Obviously, insurance companies
should not have the right to terminate pre-existing medical coverage after a
certain age.
Mario responds:
This comprehension problem seems quite serious.
a) Earlier in this same post Marlon defended Obama when he wrote, "It does not
make sense for such drastic changes to take place in a matter of just 7 months
of the Obama presidency.. "
b) Now Marlon is suggesting a system that is the exact opposite of Obama's.
Marlon apparently cannot engage in honest debate without fabricating what
others have written previously.
It is a waste of bandwidth to keep correcting such deliberate or careless
falsehoods on Goanet.
