Faye Chao:
On average my monthly income is twenty three hundred. And it's not taxed. Sometimes, you know, it varies. I save almost a thousand dollars a month.
Stuart Browning:
So why don't you have health insurance?
Faye Chao:
I'm young right now and currently don't need health insurance. Probably don't want to spend $200 a month.
Stuart Browning:
In this state, a 26-year-old non-smoker with no preexisting conditions can get a policy for $96 a month.
Faye Chao:
It's 96 dollars a month, but that's twelve hundred dollars a year you're spending on health insurance. And honestly, I feel it's ridiculous that we live in a first world country where I have to pay for basic health care.
In most European countries and Canada, the government pays for and rations health care for all citizens - why not us? Why not outlaw the health insurance industry altogether and have government be responsible for everyone's medical care?
Stuart Browning:
But, before we turn over health care decisions to government bureaucrats - shouldn't we ask just who are the uninsured in America?
Stuart Browning (voice over):
According to the US Census Bureau, 17 million of those without health insurance live in households having over $50,000 in annual income. That's 38% of the uninsured in America.(2)
In fact, 9 million - 20% of the uninsured - reside in households pulling down more than $75K a year. (3)
Devon Herrick (National Center for Policy Analysis):
Most of us would agree that people like that should probably be able to afford some type of coverage. Essentially, insurance to them is just not a good buy. It's something that they don't have a priority for in many cases.
Stuart Browning (voice over):
And then there are the young invincibles. Over 18 million of the uninsured are people between the ages of 18 and 34. (4) They spend more than four times as much on alcohol, tobacco, entertainment and dining out as they do for out-of-pocket spending on health care.(5) They represent 40% of the uninsured in America.
Stuart Browning (off camera):
What do you think that you spend each month dining out?
Jason Dusek (Uninsured 25-year-old):
I spend about $300 a month on average. I go out to eat about twelve times a month.
Jay Herrara (Uninsured 23-year-old):
I spend three to four hundred dollars a month going out to clubs and bars for entertainment.
Stuart Browning (voice over):
But, what if they get sick or injured and they don't have any savings? They know that the U.S health care system will still give them medical care.
Faye Chao:
I bike everywhere in the city, so I have gotten hit by drivers twice - and one time I ended up in the hospital. No, I didn't have health insurance, but I was treated - and billed for it later.
Stuart Browning (off camera):
Umm hmm. How much was the bill for? Do you remember?
Faye Chao:
Honestly I don't because I didn't bother to pay for it.
Stuart Browning (voice over):
Since 1965, when Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law, many Americans have become accustomed to the idea that someone else should pay for their health care.
These days, federal law requires that any hospital must provide care to anyone who comes within 250 yards of an emergency room - regardless of ability or willingness to pay. (6)
Character in Movie "JohnQ":
If you don't have any money, you get a band aid, a foot in the ass and you're out the door.
Stuart Browning (voice over):
Contrary to Hollywood depictions, the U.S. has a significant health care safety net.
Devon Herrick:
In terms of charity care, we spend more than one thousand dollars for every man, woman and child who's uninsured in this country. Studies have found that the uninsured tend to get about 50 to 60 percent as much care as say someone who is insured.
Stuart Browning (voice over):
And across the nation there's an extensive system of low or no cost community health care centers and free health care clinics.
