Advocates of universal health care point to the nation's estimated 9 million uninsured children as the best reason to socialize medicine. After all, they argue, America's young people have no control over their parents' ability to provide for families. Why should their health suffer as a result?
However, "uninsured" is not synonymous with "poor." And a report released Thursday by the advocacy group Families USA provides further evidence that movements to expand taxpayer-funded health care often paint an incomplete picture of the "crisis" faced by Americans who lack health insurance.
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According to the report, 88.3 percent of uninsured children 18 and younger live in a home with a working parent. Some 70 percent of these kids have a parent who works full-time, year-round, and more than 25 percent have two working parents. No doubt, some of these parents work in jobs that do not offer medical benefits, but some surely are taking a pass on health coverage for themselves and their dependents.
Moreover, about two-thirds of these families are eligible for some kind of government-sponsored health insurance but don't apply.
Many taxpayers might be surprised to learn that states and local governments offer health plans beyond Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides near-universal medical care for the poor.
In Nevada, which has one of the country's highest rates of uninsured residents, households of four people that earn less than $40,000 per year qualify for Nevada Check Up.
The program furnishes low-cost health insurance for uninsured children from birth to age 18. About 52,000 children are enrolled in Nevada Check Up, and thousands more could benefit from the subsidized care if their parents would sign them up. But there's a catch to Nevada Check Up: Parents must pay up to $280 per year to insure their kids.
That's a bargain. Most workers pay that much every month to have health insurance for their families.
The fact is, the millions of uninsured Americans -- including children -- are constantly turning over as parents change jobs or find new work after a tough stretch. And some of these parents lack health insurance for their children through their own free will. They have made other expenses higher priorities.
