November 2, 2009 – President Obama has been giving speeches on the urgent need for health care reform since he was a candidate. During his speeches he has claimed that 46 million Americans are uninsured. Lately, he’s been using a figure of 30 million. In either case, these numbers are misleading.

Economist Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council under President George W. Bush, has analyzed Obama’s claim that 46 million are uninsured.

National Review has recently published his findings: 

 -- “6.4 million were enrolled in Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program — now known just as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — but misreported their status (a phenomenon known as the “Medicaid undercount”); 

 -- “4.3 million were eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but not enrolled; 

 -- “9.3 million were noncitizens; 

 -- “10.1 million belonged to families earning more than 300 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL); and 

 -- “5 million were childless adults aged 18 to 34.

“If we eliminate those individuals from the original 45.7 million, we are left with about 10.6 million.”

The real figure, then is 10.6 million, which hardly calls for a government takeover of the health care industry at a cost of billions of dollars over the next decade.

Current estimates are that various Democrat-proposed health care bills will cost more than $1 trillion dollars, raise taxes on all Americans and create a government-run health care system designed to destroy private health insurance in America.

“It is clear that Obama and his cronies in the House and Senate aren’t being honest about the numbers of uninsured in America,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “If there are actually only 10.6 million who are genuinely in need of health insurance, this problem doesn’t call for the nationalization of our health care system or rationing of care.”
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Additional Resources:
Democrats Closes And Locks Doors To Keep Republicans From  Participation in Obamacare Bill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY-baAEoY68&feature=related

YouTube - Cornyn Criticizes Reid over Senate Health Care Bill
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9a-an7bcM4